Waist Circumference and Body Mass Index as Predictors of Health Care Costs

Betina Højgaard, Dorte Gyrd-Hansen, Kim Rose Olsen, Jes Søgaard and Thorkild I A Sørensen

PLOS ONE, 2008, vol. 3, issue 7, 1-7

Abstract: Background: In the present study we analyze the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) and future health care costs. On the basis of the relation between these anthropometric measures and mortality, we hypothesized that for all levels of BMI increased WC implies added future health care costs (Hypothesis 1) and for given levels of WC increased BMI entails reduced future health care costs (Hypothesis 2). We furthermore assessed whether a combination of the two measures predicts health care costs better than either individual measure. Research Methodology/Principal Findings: Data were obtained from the Danish prospective cohort study Diet, Cancer and Health. The population includes 15,334 men and 16,506 women 50 to 64 years old recruited in 1996 to 1997. The relationship between future health care costs and BMI and WC in combination was analyzed by use of categorized and continuous analyses. The analysis confirms Hypothesis 1, reflecting that an increased level of abdominal fat for a given BMI gives higher health care costs. Hypothesis 2, that BMI had a protective effect for a given WC, was only confirmed in the continuous analysis and for a subgroup of women (BMI

Date: 2008
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0002619

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0002619

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