The EpiDoC Unit had its article on the Obesity- attributable costs of absenteeism among working adults in Portugal published in the journal BMC Public Health

The paper “Obesity- attributable costs of absenteeism among working adults in Portugal” was published in BMC Public Health, written by Professors and researchers from NOVA Medical School and CHRC.

Kelli Destri, nutritionist, and PhD student of the International Doctoral Program in Global Public Health at NOVA Medical School in consortium with others Portuguese public health institutions: the NOVA National School of Public Health, the NOVA Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the University of Porto (Institute of Public Health/Faculty of Medicine) explained to us what this study found.

“Obesity, a condition resulting from the excessive accumulation of body fat, is an important public health problem. In Portugal, the prevalence of obesity almost doubled from 2003 to 2015 (14.2% vs. 28.6). Obesity leads to the worsening of people's health, becoming a burden for individuals, for health services and also for the country's economy. The indirect costs of obesity in Portugal were previously assessed in 2002 and indicated a considerable economic loss to the country of around 200 million euros. After twenty years, despite the efforts and important achievements of the National Program for the Promotion of Healthy Eating to reduce obesity in Portugal (established in 2012), such as the reduction of salt and sodium in bread, the taxation of sugary drinks and the change in the availability of unhealthy foods, particularly at school, at work and in public spaces , the burden of obesity on society continues to increase. Through the EpiDoC study, a population-based cohort study of Portuguese adults, it was confirmed that obesity was associated with absenteeism, regardless of the presence of other chronic diseases or lifestyles. Obese people were also 40% more likely to miss work, an average of 10.2 days per year, 3.8 days more than non-obese people. According to our estimates, absenteeism due to obesity imposed considerable financial burdens on the state, €819 million in total, an additional €238 million per year between 2011 and 2016 in Portugal. Studies evaluating the effectiveness of specific workplace interventions to prevent obesity and reduce the indirect costs of obesity should be considered in the coming years.”

This paper had the contribution of several CHRC researchers, Kelli Destri, Joana Alves, Maria João Gregório, Sara Simões Dias, Ana Rita Henriques, Nuno Mendonça, Helena Canhão (CHRC coordinator and Dean of NOVA Medical School) and Ana Maria Rodrigues (EpiDoc Coordinator).

Read the full paper here: https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-022-13337-z