The Bottom Line on BMI

If you think Body Mass Index (BMI) is meaningless indicator of your employee’s health status, think again.

According to the results of a new study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, it appears that BMI can tell us a lot more than just how overweight your workforce is.

In fact, BMI can be predictive of future health care cost expenditures.

First, let’s start with the basics.

BMI Defined
Body Mass Index or BMI is a method for estimating a person’s ideal or healthy weight. BMI is calculated as weight in kilometers divided by height in meters squared. For the mathematically challenged, there are BMI cards that pretty much do the calculations for you.

Logistically, whether you use a BMI card or actually complete the height/weight calculations, you are presented with a number that represents your BMI or body mass index. To assess your BMI, please visit this link.

What BMI Numbers Mean
Specifically, an adult who has a BMI:

• below 18.5 is considered to be underweight
• between 18.5 and 25 is considered to be at an ideal weight
• between 25 and 29.9 is considered to be overweight.
• of 30 or higher is considered to be obese.

Is BMI a Bunch of BS?
To date, many health professional have criticized BMI as an unpredictable measurement of healthy body weight as they argue that it is possible for fit and healthy people who are thickly muscled to be categorized as overweight or obese.

A recent article that appeared in Absolute Advantage had a beef with BMI stating that, if you used BMI calculations, Tom Cruise, Shaquille O’Neil and Arnold Schwarzenegger would all be categorized as obese.

Despite the debate, many well respected health agencies (including the CDC) consider BMI to be an important measurement of an individual’s overall health status. Indeed, BMI remains the most widely used standard for determining what is and is not an acceptable weight in both the U.S and abroad.

With all of that as background, it’s time to check out the association between BMI and health care costs.

BMI and Your Bottom Line
In an article published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine in July of 2006, researchers found that ‘each unit increase in BMI is associated with higher healthcare costs and increased likelihood of having claims for most major diagnostic codes and for diabetes and heart disease’ (Wang, et. al. Association of Healthcare Costs With Per Unit Body Mass Index Increase. JOEM. Volume 48, Number 7, July 2006.)

If you are corporate leader in charge of managing healthcare costs, I’d be asking this question: “Just how much higher?”

Let me warn you, the answer is probably not what you want to hear.

According to researchers, “within the range of 25 to 45 BMI (kg/m2) medical costs increased $119.70 per unit of body mass index increase.” Within the same range, pharmaceutical costs increased $82.60 per unit of body mass index increase.

According to study authors, “this means persons with BMI 35 (kg/m2) are likely to have nearly $600 more [$119.70 X (35-30)] in medical costs and $413 more [$82.6 X (35-30)] in drug costs compared with those with BMI 30 of the same age and gender.”

The Numbers are Revealing and the Future Isn’t Pretty
Granted, at face value, a $119 increase in healthcare costs and an $82.60 increase in drug costs per unit of body mass increase doesn’t really take your breath away when you think of it in terms of one person.

However, if you think about the 80 million baby boomers — 70% who are already overweight or obese — racing toward old age (and living to 80), the increase in healthcare and drug costs per unit increase of BMI takes on an entirely new meaning.

And I am not alone in this thinking.

In a recent magazine that appeared in Forbes Magazine discussing this very issue, noted researcher Ken Thorpe of the Rollins School of Public Health stated these people (the 80 million boomers) “will be entering Medicare with rates of chronic disease disability that we have never seen.”

Stay tuned for additional information on how you can address the obesity issue within your company.

Copyright 2006, David Hunnicutt.com

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