Association between cardiorespiratory fitness, obesity, and health care costs: The Veterans Exercise Testing Study

• Published in: International Journal of Obesity 2019-11, Vol.43 (11), p.2225-2232
• Main Authors: de Souza de Silva, Christina Grüne, Kokkinos, Peter, Doom, Rachelle, Loganathan, Danekka, Fonda, Holly, Chan, Khin, de Araújo, Claudio Gil Soares, Myers, Jonathan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 692/308/174; 692/700; Body mass index; Body size; Body weight; Cardiorespiratory fitness; Cardiovascular diseases; Chronic conditions; Chronic illnesses; Cost engineering; Cost reduction; Economic aspects; Epidemiology; Forecasts and trends; Health care; Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Internal Medicine; Medical care, Cost of; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic Diseases; Obesity; Overweight; Physical fitness; Public Health; Quartiles; Risk analysis; Risk factors; Vasomotor conditioning
• ISSN: 0307-0565; 1476-5497
• DOI: 10.1038/s41366-018-0257-0

Background/Objective Obesity is a chronic disease, a risk factor for other chronic conditions and for early mortality, and is associated with higher health care utilization. Annual spending among obese individuals is at least 30% higher vs. that for normal-weight peers. In contrast, higher cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is related to many health benefits. We sought to examine the association between CRF and health care costs across the spectrum of body mass index (BMI). Methods Data from 3,924 men (58.1 ± 11.1 years, 29.2 ± 5.3 kg.m −2 ) who completed a maximal exercise test for clinical reasons and to estimate CRF were recorded prospectively at the time of testing. Cost data (USD) from each subject during a 6-year period after the exercise test were merged with the exercise database and compared according to BMI and estimated CRF (CRFe). Subjects were categorized as normal-weight (BMI