As much as $7.44 billion could be saved over the lifetimes of today's children and teens by reducing their overweight and obesity by 5%, researchers say in a study published today.

The study, published in the latest issue of Public Health Research & Practice, a peer-reviewed journal of the Sax Institute, uses modelling to estimate the long-term economic benefits of achieving the aspirational goal set by the Australian Government’s National Obesity Strategy 2022-2032 of reducing childhood and adolescent overweight and obesity from 25% to 20% by 2030.

The researchers from the University of Sydney found that each child or teen with overweight incurs an excess lifetime cost of about $19,700, which rises to $46,700 for those with obesity, compared with their healthy-weight peers. These costs stem predominantly from increased healthcare expenses and productivity losses due to premature mortality.

The projected overall savings of $7.44 billion could potentially offset the Government’s expenditure on implementing primary prevention initiatives and improve access to healthcare services aimed at achieving the National Obesity Strategy’s goals, the study authors say.

The researchers used a model that tracks the lifetime body mass index (BMI) and related healthcare and productivity costs for a synthetic cohort of children based on data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. They compared projected lifetime costs under two scenarios: maintaining current overweight and obesity rates and reducing overweight and obesity prevalence by 5%.

“Our research suggests that investing in prevention now would not only improve the long-term health outcomes of Australians but would also save the Government billions of dollars over the coming decades,” says lead author Joe Carrello, a PhD graduate at the University of Sydney’s Faculty of

Medicine and Health whose work has been funded by The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre, a centre of the Sax Institute.

“But the problem is that less than 2% of health expenditure currently targets prevention. Many children and teens with obesity simply lack access to weight management services, making the target of a 5% reduction hard to achieve,” he adds.

“Our research demonstrates the considerable economic benefits we could achieve by reducing overweight and obesity in our children and provide justification for investing in treatment and prevention for this population.”

Another paper in this issue of Public Health Research & Practice looks at the first five years of pharmacist-administered vaccinations in Australia. It finds a dramatic increase in the number of these vaccinations over the period and points to the role pharmacists can play in improving flu vaccine coverage in regional areas, where they can fill gaps in areas that are underserved by general practice.

And new research on illnesses in children returning from overseas travel suggests that typhoid infections in this population could be avoided if vaccinations prior to travel were more widespread.

Other papers focus on:

• Implementation science research and the need to deliver public health interventions of proven effectiveness at scale to whole populations
• The benefits of co-creation in enabling meaningful public and consumer engagement with research
• The impact of COVID-19 on lung cancer care in NSW.

In an editorial, the journal’s editor-in-chief, Professor Don Nutbeam, says the papers in this issue serve as an important reminder of the need to plan for impact in public health research.

“The chances of achieving sustainable impact at scale are greatly enhanced if researchers are in meaningful dialogue with the consumers and communities intended to benefit from the research. Among other benefits, this ensures that we are asking and answering questions of importance to our communities,” he comments.

For the link to the paper on the economic benefits of reducing childhood obesity, click here: https://doi.org/10.17061/phrp3432421.