The Impact of Obesity in Saudi Arabia: Healthcare Resource Use and Costs Associated with Obesity-Related Complications

Abstract

Introduction: Saudi Arabia has a high prevalence of obesity, which increases the risk of individuals experiencing multiple chronic complications. Only a few publications highlight the healthcare costs of obesity-related complications (ORCs) in Saudi Arabia. Methods: A micro-costing approach was used to estimate the healthcare costs associated with 10 ORCs. Experienced clinicians in public and private practice across different geographical regions in Saudi Arabia were asked to estimate healthcare resource use associated with each ORC, and estimated unit costs were obtained from hospital administrators. Estimated overall annual costs per patient were calculated as a weighted average of separate public and private sector costs. Results: Individuals in Saudi Arabia with any single ORC incurred overall average annual healthcare costs of 2165-7558 US dollars (USD). Heart failure, chronic kidney disease, dyslipidemia, and type 2 diabetes (T2D) were the most costly complications, mainly driven by monitoring and/or pharmacological treatment costs.

Longitudinal economic burden of incident complications among metabolic syndrome populations

“…We thus analyzed several clinically meaningful microvascular events (i.e., retinopathy, neuropathy, and nephropathy) and found a nearly 1.2-fold increase in annual medical costs when these complications occurred. The increased costs caused by microvascular complications in the following years (1.12−1.22-fold increase) can be explained by the additional treatments or medical interventions and procedures required during the chronic progression of these complications (e.g., from monitoring without treatments to receiving treatments, or from non-dialysis to dialysis-dependent [ 32 ]). Of note, the cost impact of microvascular complications in MS individuals and patients with type 2 diabetes is generally comparable (i.e., cost multipliers in event year [state years]: 1.24−1.27 [1.12−1.22] in MS populations versus 1.37−1.49 [1.13−1.18] in diabetic patients [ 12 ]).…”

The remission rate, metabolic changes, and quality of life assessment among patients with type 2 diabetes post-bariatric surgery in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

“…One of the most expensive obesityrelated complications was type 2 diabetes, which had annual costs of between $4000 and $5333 per patient. 13 This would mean that the cost of obesity is even higher, since it is associated with other comorbidities other than diabetes, such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, and cardiovascular diseases. By comparison, In the United States, adult obesity-related medical expenses totaled $260.6 billion.…”