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Drugs and the Overweight

By James Edholm

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Published: 17Mar2012
Word count: 409
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Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention in Atlanta from 2005 to 2008, compared medication usage in ten different drug classes and found that overweight people (one third of America's population) were using medication more regularly than individuals with normal weight in 8 of the 10 categories.

For instance, according to Reuters, approximately a third of overweight people who are more than 20 years of age used at least one medication in order to lower their blood pressure - in comparison to 17 percent of adults who have normal weight - and one in 5 overweight adults took cholesterol lowering medication compared to 1 in 10 of normal weight adults.

If you are an obese adult, there is a strong possibility that you would use a lot of medication more than your slimmer counterparts. Overweight people used fewer drugs in sex hormones and used the same amount of medication such as sleeping aids as normal weight people.

The categories in the study included the following: Cholesterol and blood pressure medication - obese adults are known to suffer high blood pressure and have high cholesterol levels. Medications will be needed in other to slow down high blood pressure and reduce high cholesterol levels.

Drugs for treating thyroid problems, diabetes and asthma - Type I and Type II diabetes are quite common in overweight people. Breathing problems (asthma) is also a common health issue with overweight adults. Many overweight people are unable to shed off excess weight because of thyroid issues.

Painkillers and antidepressants - it is impossible to be overweight and not feel depressed and pains in one's joints (especially in the legs and feet). The higher usage of drugs was present in every age group; however, the dependency on the use of medication tends to become higher with age in every weight category.

This means, the older an obese individual becomes, the more he or she will become dependant on medications in order to stay healthy.

The most interesting thing about this study is that in spite of the high user of drugs, when the study was in full progress in 2008, prescription drugs represented around ten percent of the entire medical costs.

In Massachusetts in the late 1980's and 1990's, prescription costs were reaching 20 percent of total medical costs. However, the arrival of big Pharmacy Benefit Manager, tiered co-pay and other innovations have contributed to the relative down turn of prescriptions as part of medical costs.

Jim Edholm is President of Business Benefits Insurance (BBI), an employee benefits planning firm in Andover, MA. He has worked with employers for more than 25 years and can be contacted at (978) 474-4730, via his website (www.bbibenefits.com), or via e-mail (jedholm@bbibenefits.com

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