The relationship of body mass index, medical costs, and job absenteeism

Objectives: To assess the relationship between body mass index, as categorized by the recently released guidelines of the NHLBI, and health care costs and absenteeism in a sample of municipal workers. Methods: A cross-sectional study was employed that compared the obesity-related health care costs and absences of normal and overweight/obese city workers. Results: While accounting for age, gender, race, smoking behavior, and educational attainment, BMI predicted both average annual health-care costs and work absence hours. Conclusions: The NHLBI guidelines for overweight and obesity effectively predicted absences and health care costs.