Patients with obesity cost NHS twice as much

Patients living with obesity cost the NHS twice as much as people whose weight is within a healthy range, research has argued.

It has long been recognised that obesity creates an extra financial burden for the NHS, with government calculations warning this could rise to more than £9.7bn a year by 2050.

But new research presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Dublin has argued that the NHS spends an average of £1,375 annually on morbidly obese patients, or those with a body mass index (BMI) of more than 40.

Obese patients, or those with a BMI of 30 to 35, cost the health service an average of £979 annually. This increased to £1,178 for those with a BMI between 35 and 40.

By comparison, patients of a healthy weight cost the NHS an average of £638 annually. Therefore, if everyone were a healthy weight, the NHS would save nearly £14bn annually, the study suggested. The study analysed the health records of 2.4 million adults in north-west London.

Lead researcher Dr Jonathan Pearson-Stuttard, a public health lecturer at Imperial College London and head of health analytics at the Lane Clark & Peacock consultancy, said the cost to the NHS came not only from the health effects of living with obesity but the impact of related conditions, such as heart attacks and strokes.

“As weight increases through the BMI categories – from healthy to overweight to obese – costs increase and use of healthcare resources increase,” Pearson-Stuttard said.

“The ill health and costs associated with obesity compound over time. Not only is that impacting individual health, but also costs to the NHS and the economic workforce.”

It is estimated that nearly two-thirds (63%) of adults in England are living above a healthy weight, with warnings that rising rates of obesity are also creating an “escalating crisis” of diabetes and pre-diabetes ill health.

Last November, the Department of Health and Social Care unveiled a £20m research boost designed to help develop new medicines and digital tools to help tackle obesity and support more people to lose weight.

Separately, research has argued that obesity potentially limits the protection offered by the Covid-19 vaccines.

Protection rates declined more rapidly in people with severe obesity (or BMI of above 40) than in those with normal weight.

The research published in the journal Nature Medicine found the ability of antibodies to neutralise the virus declined faster in vaccinated people who have obesity than those of normal weight.

Vaccinated individuals with severe obesity were also 76% more likely than those of normal weight to experience hospitalisation or death from Covid-19.