Tipping the Scales

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Tippingthe Scales
How fat has becomea weighty problem for North
Carolina Shellie PfohlBe Active North Carolina
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Be Active North Carolina
A Statewide Initiative to Increase Physical
Activity
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Just imagine

• An ideal world where everyone would be in good
  health.
• Theyd be at a healthy weight, energetic, engaged
  in healthy habits, resistant to disease, and
  active.

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Of course in reality

• Too many North Carolinians suffer from ill-health
  or have health and lifestyle habits that
  predispose them to a host of diseases.
• Tragically, even children are experiencing
  diseases and conditions historically have been
  associated with middle- or old-age.

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Ask yourself

• How can your county, NC and the USA compete in a
  global economy with our current trend in health
  care costs?
• Why would companies want to employ Americans if
  they can get the same or better quality
  products/services overseas for a tenth of the
  cost?
• How does this impact health, health care,
  education, economy in America/NC/county?
• How can we get NC moving in the right direction?

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Things to Consider

• You know the human cost of unhealthy lifestyles
  from your CHA, BRFSS, etc.
• But how does this impact your economy, healthcare
  costs, jobs.?
• Funders, sponsors, policy-makers care about the
  bottom line
• Have to make the connection between your health
  data and economic data

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Need to answer.

• Why should we have more PE in schools?
• Why do we need more bike lanes and multi-use
  trails?
• Why do we need policies for healthy snacks in
  vending machines?
• Why do we need safe routes to schools?
  Focus on ECONOMY

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Our study found that

• Too few North Carolinians are taking steps to
  improve their health habits and lifestyles.
• And the costs of treating the diseases and
  conditions that often result from their choices
  are escalating.

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Poor health impacts finances

• Adults and children who have one or more of
  several common health risk factors cost North
  Carolina money big money.
• Medical treatment, prescription drug and lost
  productivity costs associated with these factors
  totaled XX.XX billion in 2006 for adults alone.

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and drains resources

• If all our resources are siphoned off to pay for
  these problems, we will have significantly less
  money left for investment in infrastructure,
  capital projects, education and job creation.

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Risk Factors Analyzed

• ADULTS

• YOUTH

• Excess weight
• Physical inactivity
• Type II diabetes
• Low dietary consumption of fruits and vegetables
• Hypertension (high blood pressure)
• Abnormal blood lipid level (high cholesterol)
• Depression
• Tobacco use

• Physical Inactivity
• Excess weight
• Diabetes

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Assessing theEight Risk Factors -Adults-
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Excess Weight

• In North Carolina,62.6 percent of adults have
  excess weight
• Of those, 36.7 percent are overweight
• And 25.9 percent
• considered obese

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Physical Inactivity

• 57.9 percent of North Carolina adults are
  physically inactive.
• 40.4 percent reported getting some physical
  activity, but less than recommended
• 22 percent reported not being physical active at
  all.

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Type II Diabetes

• In North Carolina, an estimated 547,000 adults,
  or approximately 8.5 percent of the adult
  population, have been diagnosed with Type II
  diabetes.

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Nutritional issues

• Statistics show that 77.5 percent of North
  Carolina adults eat fewer than five daily
  servings of fruit and vegetables.

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Depression

• In North Carolina, 5 percent of adults report
  being dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with
  life, an indicator of depression absent a
  clinical diagnosis.

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Abnormal Blood Lipid Level

• In North Carolina, 36.3 percent of North
  Carolinians reported having abnormal blood lipid
  levels (high cholesterol).

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Hypertension

• In North Carolina, 29.2 percent of adults have
  been diagnosed with hypertension (high blood
  pressure).

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Tobacco Use

• In North Carolina, 22.6 percent of all adults
  smoke cigarettes

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Tracking medical costs

• The eight risk factors responsible for XX.XX
  billion
• XX cents of every dollar spent on outpatient or
  hospital treatment resulted from one or more of
  the eight risk factors.

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Factoring in drug costs

• In 2006, prescription drug costs associated with
  the eight risk factors were X.XX billion.
• That is an estimated XX percent of the cost of
  outpatient and inpatient care combined.

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Lost workplace productivity

• An employee who is present but performing below
  expectations due to a medical condition or injury
  (presenteeism) can greatly reduce a companys
  output.
• In 2006, the lost productivity cost owing to the
  eight risk factors was XX.XX billion

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Who really pays?

• If, hypothetically, the costs associated with the
  eight risk factors were borne exclusively
• Taxpayers share xxxx/year
• Full-time worker xxxx/year
• Non-farm worksite xxxxx

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The Cost of Doing Nothing

• If we accept the status quo, expect the total
  cost to rise nearly 32 over the next five years
  to XX.XX

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The Good News!

• If we can achieve a 3 improvement in the
  targeted risk factors, we could expect to save
  over XX.XX billion over the next five years.
• That savings could fund (in todays dollars)
  nearly XX,000 full-time jobs in NC.

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Youth - Growing Up and Out

• Children plagued with the same kind of chronic
  health conditions once the purview of
  middle-aged adults.
• For the first time in history, this generation of
  children may be sicker and die younger than
  their parents

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Falling Short

• Far too many North Carolina children are falling
  short of current physical fitness
  recom-mendations

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Youth - Excess Weight

• 34 percent fall into the excess weight category
• 16 percent classified as overweight
• 18 percent at risk of overweight

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Youth - Diabetes

• Until recently, children with diabetes always had
  the Type I form of the disease
• In North Carolina, approximately 1 percent of
  children and adolescents have been diagnosed with
  Type II diabetes or pre-diabetic syndrome

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Tallying the Toll for Youth

• The cost to treat the medical conditions
  associated with the child/youth risk factors was
  XXX million in 2006
• Physical inactivity was the most expensive risk
  factor, accounting for XX.XX million in health
  care costs, or XX percent of the total tab.

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The Cost of Doing Nothing

• If we do nothing, costs are projected to increase
  more than 84 by 2011 to xxx.xx million.

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The Good News!

• If we just contain these three risk factors to
  their current prevalence levels we could save
  about XX million per year.

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County Data

• CHA Data
• State and National Data
• Be Active Economic Study

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Using your CHA

• Do the data from your county indicate that there
  is a problem?
• Trends in county
• Compare with state, nation
• What are the implications of these data?
• Economic

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Forsyth

• Overweight or Obese Adult
• Forsyth 57.4
• NC 62.9 (2006)
• US 60.5
• Overweight or At-risk Youth (5-11)
• Forsyth 18.2
• NC 27.3
• US 33 (6-11)

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Forsyth

• The economic cost of unhealthy lifestyles among
  adults in Forsyth County is nearly 466 million
  annually.
• Unhealthy lifestyles includes the risk
  factors of diabetes, depression, excess weight,
  physical inactivity, abnormal blood lipid level,
  low fruit vegetable intake and tobacco use.

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The Cost of Doing Nothing

• If we do not turn these trends around then
• 466 million in Forsyth will grow to 653 million
  by 2010.

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The Good News.

• If we can get just 3 of at-risk adults to be
  more healthy (physically active, manage weight,
  better diet) we could achieve a cost-savings of
  about 19.6 million per year.

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What Could YOU Do With the Saved

• Relate the saving to new jobsthe cost savings
  in Forsyth could fund about 584 new jobs (based
  on average salary figures).

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Forsyth Youth

• The direct medical cost of unhealthy lifestyles
  among youth in Forsyth County is over 726,000
  annually.
• If trends continue, the current group of inactive
  and overweight youth in our country will incur
  medical care and lost productivity cost of over
  951 million by the mid-point of their working
  years and over 8.6 billion by the time they
  retire.

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The Good News.

• If we can get just 4 of at-risk youth in Forsyth
  County to be more active, eat nutritiously and
  achieve a healthy weight, we can save nearly
  41,000 annual in direct medical costs.

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No longer a personal problem

• Impacts families, communities, cities and
  businesses
• Limits companies ability to boost economy
• State is less competitive, both nationally and
  globally

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Working togetherto make it happen
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Be Active North Carolina!
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CONTACT INFO

• Shellie Pfohl
• Vice President Strategic Development
• Be Active North Carolina, Inc.
• shellie_at_beactivenc.org
• 919-765-7171
• www.beactivenc.org