Overweight people cost taxpayers €18m a year

Obese and overweight people in Malta are costing taxpayers almost €18 million a year in medical treatment alone, according to a new study.

These costs are just a fraction of the total financial burden caused by the overweight and obese since expenses for operations and drugs are not included, the study's authors said.

"These costs are definitely grossly underestimated," according to Neville Calleja, head of the Health Information and Research Department, who drew up the study together with Dorothy Gauci.

The study shows that overweight people cost the national health service €4.5 million per year more than people whose weight is normal, while those classified as obese - that is, with a body mass index of more than 30 - raise that figure by €13.2 million.

The study, presented during the Malta Medical Conference last Thursday, based its findings on the results of the Health Interview Survey, which found that 36.3 per cent of Maltese were overweight and 22.3 per cent were obese.

The survey provided the researchers with important data, including the number of doctor visits and hospital stays.

They used available rates for different healthcare services - €200 every night for a hospital bed, €170 for every day case, €35 for hospital outpatient appointments and €23 for health centre visits - to estimate that obese and overweight people cost €17.7 million more.

The estimate does not take into account operation costs for different obesity-related health problems, including heart attacks and strokes, or drugs for a number of diseases, ranging from high blood pressure to high cholesterol.

"This proves that investing in the prevention of obesity is an investment not only in the future health of the nation but also in the financial sustainability of the health sector," the researchers said.

Last Wednesday, the health authorities launched a campaign, which includes a 30-second television advert, urging people to lose extra weight.

The Maltese have long been among Europe's heavyweights, and children have topped the world's weighing scales. In 2006, Malta was ranked the most overweight country in Europe, followed by Greece.

Figures published by the National Statistics Office showed that 62 per cent of adults were overweight in 2007, although half of the population claimed to be on a diet.

A Eurobarometer survey published in 2007 indicated that Maltese adults are among the most self-aware in the EU about their weight problems, with a third believing they are carrying extra pounds.

Moreover, the latest Health Behaviour in School Children study, carried out in 2006, showed that Maltese 15-year-olds were the fattest in 41 countries, even surpassing the US. The study placed Malta second, after the US, for overweight and obese 11-year-olds.

In 2007, a local paediatrician who extrapolated data from the EU and the US had estimated that obesity costs Malta €77.2 million a year.