Background: Childhood overweight and obesity are a non-deniable health concern with increasing economic attention. Summary: International studies provide robust evidence about substantial lifetime excess costs due to childhood obesity, thereby underscoring the urgent need to implement potent obesity prevention programs in early childhood. Fortunately, this is happening more and more, as evidenced by the increase in well-conducted interventions. Nevertheless, an important piece of the puzzle is often missing, that is, health economic evaluations. There are 3 main reasons for this: an insufficient number of economic approaches which consider the complexity of childhood obesity, a lack of (significant) long-term effect sizes of an intervention, and inadequate planning of health economic evaluations in the design phase of an intervention. Key Messages: It is advisable to involve health economists during the design phase of an intervention. Equally necessary is the development of a tailored toolbox for efficient data acquisition.

Keywords:
Childhood obesity, Economic evaluation, Lifetime cost, Best-practice toolbox
1.
Wang Y, Lobstein T: Worldwide trends in childhood overweight and obesity. Int J Pediatr Obes 2006;1:11-25.
2.
Singh AS, Mulder C, Twisk JW, van Mechelen W, Chinapaw MJ: Tracking of childhood overweight into adulthood: a systematic review of the literature. Obes Rev 2008;9:474-488.
3.
Caird J, Kavanagh J, O'Mara-Eves A, Oliver K, Oliver S, Stansfield C, Thomas J: Does being overweight impede academic attainment? A systematic review. Health Educ J 2014;73:497-521.
4.
Tsai AG, Williamson DF, Glick HA: Direct medical cost of overweight and obesity in the USA: a quantitative systematic review. Obes Rev 2011;12:50-61.
5.
Sonntag D, Ali S, De Bock F: Lifetime indirect cost of childhood overweight and obesity: a decision analytic model. Obesity (Silver Spring) 2016;24:200-206.
6.
Fernandes MM: Estimating the lifecycle costs associated with childhood obesity in: evaluating the impacts of school nutrition and physical activity policies on child health (dissertation). RAND COOPERATION, 2010.
7.
Sonntag D, Ali S, Lehnert T, Konnopka A, Riedel-Heller S, König HH: Estimating the lifetime cost of childhood obesity in Germany: results of a Markov Model. Pediatr Obes 2015;10:416-422.
8.
Hoffmeister U, Bullinger M, van Egmond-Froehlich A, Goldapp C, Mann R, Ravens-Sieberer U, et al: [Overweight and obesity in childhood and adolescence. Evaluation of inpatient and outpatient care in Germany: the EvAKuJ study]. Bundesgesundheitsblatt Gesundheitsforschung Gesundheitsschutz 2011;54:128-135.
9.
Blake-Lamb TL, Locks LM, Perkins ME, Woo Baidal JA, Cheng ER, Taveras EM: Interventions for childhood obesity in the first 1,000 days a systematic review. Am J Prev Med 2016;50:780-789.
10.
Döring N, Mayer S, Rasmussen F, Sonntag D: Economic evaluation of obesity prevention in early childhood: methods, limitations and recommendations. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2016;13:pii:E911.
11.
Bartick M, Reinhold A: The burden of suboptimal breastfeeding in the United States: a pediatric cost analysis. Pediatrics 2010;125:e1048-e1056.
12.
Weber M, Grote V, Closa-Monasterolo R, Escribano J, Langhendries JP, Dain E, Giovannini M, Verduci E, Gruszfeld D, Socha P, et al: Lower protein content in infant formula reduces BMI and obesity risk at school age: follow-up of a randomized trial. Am J Clin Nutr 2014;99:1041-1051.
13.
Sonntag D, Schneider S, Mdege N, Ali S, Schmidt B: Beyond food promotion: a systematic review on the influence of the food industry on obesity-related dietary behaviour among children. Nutrients 2015;7:8565-8576.
© 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel
2017
Copyright / Drug Dosage / Disclaimer
Copyright: All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be translated into other languages, reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, microcopying, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Drug Dosage: The authors and the publisher have exerted every effort to ensure that drug selection and dosage set forth in this text are in accord with current recommendations and practice at the time of publication. However, in view of ongoing research, changes in government regulations, and the constant flow of information relating to drug therapy and drug reactions, the reader is urged to check the package insert for each drug for any changes in indications and dosage and for added warnings and precautions. This is particularly important when the recommended agent is a new and/or infrequently employed drug.
Disclaimer: The statements, opinions and data contained in this publication are solely those of the individual authors and contributors and not of the publishers and the editor(s). The appearance of advertisements or/and product references in the publication is not a warranty, endorsement, or approval of the products or services advertised or of their effectiveness, quality or safety. The publisher and the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to persons or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content or advertisements.
You do not currently have access to this content.