Waist Circumference and Body Mass Index as Predictors of Health Care Costs
Author Information
Author(s): Højgaard Betina, Gyrd-Hansen Dorte, Olsen Kim Rose, Søgaard Jes, Sørensen Thorkild I. A.
Primary Institution: Danish Institute for Health Services Research, Copenhagen, Denmark
Hypothesis
For all levels of BMI, increased waist circumference implies added future health care costs, and for given levels of waist circumference, increased BMI entails reduced future health care costs.
Conclusion
The study showed that waist circumference for given levels of BMI predicts increased health costs, whereas BMI for given waist circumference did not predict health costs except for a lower cost in non-obese women with normal waist circumference.
Supporting Evidence
- The analysis confirms that an increased level of abdominal fat for a given BMI gives higher health care costs.
- Combining waist circumference and BMI does not provide better predictions of costs than waist circumference alone.
- Statistical analyses showed a significant association between future health care costs and both waist circumference and BMI.
Takeaway
This study found that having a bigger waist can mean higher health care costs, while having a higher BMI doesn't always mean lower costs unless you're a non-obese woman with a normal waist size.
Methodology
Data were obtained from the Danish prospective cohort study Diet, Cancer and Health, analyzing the relationship between future health care costs and BMI and waist circumference using categorized and continuous analyses.
Potential Biases
Potential sources of bias and confounding factors were sought to be eliminated, but the study may still be affected by selection bias.
Limitations
The study results are based on associations of inter-individual waist circumference and BMI differences, not intra-individual changes, and there is a risk of selection bias as only one-third of invited individuals participated.
Participant Demographics
The population included 15,334 men and 16,506 women aged 50 to 64 years old.
Statistical Information
P-Value
p<0.001
Statistical Significance
p<0.001
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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