The relationship of body mass index with health care costs and absenteeism in a sample of city employees

Authors

Timothy J. Bungum, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Monica Satterwhite
Allen W. Jackson, University of North Texas
James R. Morrow Jr., University of North Texas

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-2003

Publication Title

American Journal of Health Behavior

Volume

27

Issue

4

First page number:

456

Last page number:

462

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:

To assess the relationship between body mass index, as categorized by the recently released guidelines of the NHLBI, and health care costs and absenteeism in a sample of municipal workers.

METHODS:

A cross-sectional study was employed that compared the obesity-related health care costs and absences of normal and overweight/obese city workers.

RESULTS:

While accounting for age, gender, race, smoking behavior, and educational attainment, BMI predicted both average annual health-care costs and work absence hours.

CONCLUSIONS:

The NHLBI guidelines for overweight and obesity effectively predicted absences and health care costs.

Keywords

Absenteeism; Absenteeism (Labor); Adult; Age distribution (Demography); Age Factors; Body mass index; Cost of Illness; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Health Care Costs; Humans; Local government; Logistics--Mathematical models; Logistic Models; Male; Men; Medical care; Cost of; Middle Aged; Minorities; Minority Groups; National Institutes of Health (U.S.); Obesity; Obesity/economics; Obesity/ethnology; Obesity—Treatment; Older people; Overweight persons; Questionnaires; Sex distribution (Demography); Sex Factors; Smoking; Southwestern United States; United States; United States--Southwestern States; Women

Disciplines

Community-Based Research | Community Health | Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition | Nutrition | Public Health

Language

English

Permissions

Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the item. Publisher policy does not allow archiving the final published version. If a post-print (author's peer-reviewed manuscript) is allowed and available, or publisher policy changes, the item will be deposited.

Repository Citation

Bungum, T. J., Satterwhite, M., Jackson, A. W., Morrow, J. R. (2003). The relationship of body mass index with health care costs and absenteeism in a sample of city employees. American Journal of Health Behavior, 27(4), 456-462.