Medical Costs Attributable to Obesity in Japan, 2012-2018

244,150 Japanese adults with obesity-related health disorders were analyzed to estimate excess medical costs over a five-year follow-up. The study, authored by Taisuke Kojima, used anonymized claims and health checkup data from the JMDC database. Total medical costs per person-year increased from 234,093 to 323,086 JPY for participants with obesity.

Use Cases

• Estimate the economic impact of obesity based on BMI categories and annual medical cost data.
• Model healthcare cost projections for populations with obesity-related disorders based on the five-year longitudinal analysis.
• Compare outpatient, inpatient, and medication cost ratios between groups with and without obesity.
• Assess the concentration of excess costs in higher BMI subgroups (e.g., BMI ≥27.0 kg/m²).

Strengths

• Analyzes a large cohort of 244,150 participants.
• Provides longitudinal data with a five-year follow-up period.
• Includes detailed cost breakdowns (total, outpatient, inpatient, medication).
• Uses statistical modeling (Generalized Estimating Equations) to adjust for covariates.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count for the underlying dataset is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic and temporal bias inherent to the JMDC claims database source.

Provenance

Source

JMDC claims database (anonymized claims and health checkup data).

Collection Method

Retrospective cohort study using linked insurance claims and corporate health checkup data.

Time Range

Participants' first recorded BMI between December 2012 and December 2018, with a five-year follow-up.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-28 16:02:10; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Japan.