Resumen de The influence of bmi, obesity and overweight on medical costs: a panel data approach
Toni Mora, Joan Gil, Antoni Sicras Mainar
This paper estimates the impact of BMI, obesity and overweight on direct medical costs. We apply panel data econometrics and use a two-part model with a longitudinal dataset of medical and administrative records of patients in primary and secondary healthcare centres in Spain followed up over seven consecutive years (2004- 2010). Our findings show a positive and statistically significant impact of BMI, obesity and overweight on annual medical costs after accounting for data restrictions, different subsamples of individuals and various econometric approaches.
