In the United Kingdom (UK) around 60% of adult men and women are now overweight or obese. Overweight and obesity are of major public health concern and also lead to increased use and costs of healthcare services. However we have only a limited understanding of how overweight and obesity affect the use and costs of different types of healthcare services in the UK, or which health conditions contribute most to any excess costs. The Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) contains data for individuals on their GP visits and prescription medications issued. CPRD has been linked to an existing medical research study (the Million Women Study [MWS]). Using combined MWS and CPRD data we will relate the use and costs of GP visits and prescription medications issued to the body mass index (a measure of weight adjusted for height) in around 100,000 middle-aged and elderly women. We will do so overall and for categories of health conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and arthritis. This research is funded by the National Institute of Health Research, and our results will be useful both in planning healthcare services and to help estimate the effects of strategies designed to reduce overweight in the population.
We will estimate the impact of overweight and obesity on use and costs of primary care consultations and prescription medications, overall and for different health conditions, among >100,000 women in the Million Women Study (MWS) who also have available CPRD data. For these women, annual estimates of costs and use of primary care consultations and prescriptions issued, overall and by BNF chapter, will be generated from recruitment into the MWS (1996-2001) to the end of CPRD follow-up or death; and will be related to body mass index (BMI) at MWS recruitment using generalized linear models, controlling for potential confounders like age, smoking, and socioeconomic status. Exclusion of women with known cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and of early years of follow-up, will be considered to account for confounding by pre-existing disease. Estimates of the effects of overweight and obesity on primary care and prescription medication costs will be projected to the 2013 population of women aged 55 to 79 in England. This study is designed to complement similar analyses using secondary care data.
Annual costs of primary care consultations and prescription medications issue
Jane Green - Chief Investigator - University of Oxford
Alastair Gray - Collaborator - University of Oxford
Benjamin Cairns - Collaborator - University of Oxford
Borislava MIHAYLOVA - Collaborator - University of Oxford
Seamus Kent - Collaborator - National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence - NICE
Susan Jebb - Collaborator - University of Oxford
Valerie Beral - Collaborator - University of Oxford