Obesity in the Context of Aging: Quality of Life Considerations

Francesco Corica, Giampaolo Bianchi, Andrea Corsonello, Natalia Mazzella, Fabrizia Lattanzio and Giulio Marchesini ()

PharmacoEconomics, 2015, vol. 33, issue 7, 655-672

Abstract: The progressive increase in the prevalence of obesity and aging in the population is resulting in increased healthcare and disability spending. The burden of obesity is particularly relevant in old age, due to accumulating co-morbidities and changes in body composition. Sarcopenic obesity, a mix of over- and under-nutrition, causes frailty, disability, and problems in social and psychological areas, impacting overall health-related quality of life (HR-QOL). The relationship between obesity, aging, and HR-QOL is, however, much more complex than generally acknowledged and is difficult to disentangle. The impact of obesity on HR-QOL is particularly strong in young people, who are free of co-morbidities. It progressively attenuates, compared with the general population, with advancing age, when co-morbid conditions are diffusely present and reduce the perceived health status, independent of obesity. However, even this apparent ‘obesity paradox’ should not minimize the importance of obesity on HR-QOL, as other obesity-associated limitations and disabilities do impact HR-QOL in older age. A patient-centered approach aimed at reducing the disability and social isolation of advancing age is mandatory to improve HR-QOL in any class of obesity. Copyright Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015

Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s40273-014-0237-8 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:pharme:v:33:y:2015:i:7:p:655-672

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/40273

DOI: 10.1007/s40273-014-0237-8

Access Statistics for this article

PharmacoEconomics is currently edited by Timothy Wrightson and Christopher I. Carswell

More articles in PharmacoEconomics from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().