Burden of Disease Attributable to Obesity and Overweight in Colombia

Objectives: To estimate the burden of disease attributable to obesity and overweight conditions using disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) in Colombia.

Methods: The burden of disease was estimated following an adapted methodology published by the World Health Organization. A selection of diseases was performed in which overweight and obesity are risk factors. DALYs were calculated by obtaining the proportion of cases and deaths of every disease that can be attributable to obesity and overweight conditions. The economic impact of obesity was calculated by multiplying the cost of care per patient for each comorbidity by the number of cases attributable exclusively to obesity.

Results: A total of 997 371 DALYs were estimated, 45% of which corresponded to men; 81% of DALYs corresponded to years lived with disability. Conditions with greater attributable DALYs are, in order, hypertension (31.6% of the total DALYs), type 2 diabetes mellitus (28.0%), cardiac ischemic disease (14.6%), and lower back pain (11.2%). An estimation of 20.5 DALYs per 1000 inhabitants was made. The economic impact of care for comorbidities associated with obesity could amount to $2158 million.

Conclusions: Obesity and overweight conditions are related to higher mortality and disability than previously estimated; effective interventions aimed at prevention and treatment will have a high impact on quality of life.