Overweight and Obesity in Saudi Arabia

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Overweight and Obesity in Saudi Arabia

Monetizing the days missed and multiplying by the number of employees in each weight category yields the following findings: • The average employee with a normal BMI reported missed 1.78 days per year due to illness or injury. • Overweight/obesity increased reported annual absenteeism by 0.13 and 1.07 days, respectively. However, only the estimate for obesity was statistically significant. • Based on these estimates and the prevalence of overweight/obesity, total annual absenteeism costs due to excess weight are estimated to be $26.8 ­billion (2018 international $), which represented 1.42 percent of GDP in 2018. Comparable estimates from Saudi Arabia are not available. However, our estimates are broadly consistent with previous published estimates in the United States. Finkelstein et al. (2010), for example, found that overweight employees in the United States miss up to 1.1 days more per year and obese individuals miss between 0.5 and 9.4 days more, depending on the degree of excess weight. The findings of this chapter are also consistent with two studies that found that obesity, but not overweight, is significantly associated with greater absenteeism among full-time male employees in the United States (Cawley, Rizzo, and Haas 2007; Finkelstein, Fiebelkorn, and Wang 2005). Note that these estimates do not take into account presenteeism (that is, reduced productivity while working) or other productivity-related expenses that may result from excess weight, such as those due to disability or inability to work. For obese full-time employees in the United States, presenteeism costs are estimated to be US$30 billion (2010 dollars) or 41 percent of total costs attributable to obesity annually (Finkelstein et al. 2010). Thus, these estimates understate the total indirect costs attributable to excess weight.

ESTIMATING THE ECONOMIC BURDEN USING THE VALUE-OF-A-STATISTICAL-LIFE METHOD Burden-of-illness studies such as those described earlier tend to use market rates for forgone earnings. An alternative paradigm is to apply a value of a statistical life (VSL). A VSL is quantified based on the marginal rate of substitution between income (or wealth) and mortality risk. Using the VSL method, the value of premature death is inferred from real or hypothetical trade-offs that people willingly make (how much individuals are willing to pay to reduce the risk of death). These trade-offs typically entail taking on greater health risks in exchange for something of value, such as trading off the risk of working in a smoke-filled bar or on a deep sea fishing vessel, both risky occupations, in exchange for a higher salary. This higher salary can be interpreted as a risk premium and can be used to estimate the VSL. The main advantage of this approach is that it is most consistent with economic theory (that is, utility maximization). The cost-of-illness approach accurately quantifies the burden of disease from an accounting perspective but does not take into account the changes in utility (value) that individuals may accrue from, say, not having to diet and exercise or the intrinsic value that people place on being alive. An additional advantage of the VSL approach is that, unlike the cost-of-illness approach, it can be used to generate unique estimates that each


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8A.5 Example of UK multiple traffic light front-of-package labeling

5min
pages 177-178

Annex 8A: Case studies of countries with integrated and systems-based strategies Annex 8B: Examples of applied or recommended nutrient

2min
page 172

8.7 Stage 2: Increase the intake of healthy foods in Saudi Arabia 8A.2 Complete set of black seal labels that might be applied on front-of-package

7min
pages 168-170

8A.3 Example of campaign among public health advocates in support of Mexico’s front-of-package labeling regulation 8A.4 Example of cereal before (left) and after (right) Chile’s food labeling and

1min
page 175

labeling for Mexico based on product characteristics

1min
page 174

marketing law

1min
page 176

8A.1 Example of campaign material by advocates for the sugar-sweetened beverages tax to fund drinking fountains in schools

1min
page 173

Applying a Saudi-specific NPM for transforming the food system

2min
page 166

8.6 Stage 1: Reduce the intake of unhealthy foods in Saudi Arabia

2min
page 167

approaches

4min
pages 161-162

in Saudi Arabia and Chile

5min
pages 159-160

References

22min
pages 142-150

healthy diets

2min
page 152

per capita per day), 2010–19

1min
page 154

products

2min
page 153

Conclusions

2min
page 139

reformulation in Saudi Arabia

7min
pages 134-136

7.5 Saudi Arabia’s voluntary traffic light label, 2018

4min
pages 132-133

7A.2 Examples of different tax designs and evidence on their effectiveness

2min
page 141

Key lessons learned from global experiences

2min
page 138

7.3 Trends in carbonated drink volume per capita sales (liters), 2010–18

4min
pages 127-128

Obesity-prevention policies and their effectiveness evidence

2min
page 124

References

17min
pages 114-120

of COVID-19

9min
pages 109-112

Conclusions

2min
page 113

Summary and conclusions

3min
pages 95-96

The impact of obesity on COVID-19

2min
page 102

References

5min
pages 98-100

Estimating the economic burden using the economic growth approach method

2min
page 94

Estimating the economic burden using the value-of-a-statistical-life method

5min
pages 92-93

obesity

5min
pages 90-91

method

2min
page 87

Annex 4B: Supplementary details for intervention assumptions

2min
page 78

5.2 Direct medical costs attributable to overweight

1min
page 88

Key messages

1min
page 85

Results

2min
page 60

risk factors

5min
pages 57-58

Methods

2min
page 55

References

7min
pages 50-52

and obesity

2min
page 44

References

5min
pages 37-38

Socioeconomic and cultural influences

4min
pages 47-48

Dietary behaviors contributing to overweight and obesity Physical inactivity as a risk factor in the development of overweight

8min
pages 41-43

ages 5–9 years, by sex, 1975–2016

1min
page 30

2 Engagement of men and women in sufficient physical activity in

2min
page 23
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