THE IMPACT OF PHYSICAL INACTIVITY AND OBESITY ON HEALTH EXPENDITURES IN TÜRKİYE

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study is to analyse the relationship between physical inactivity and abdominal obesity and public health expenditures among adults in Türkiye. The main objective of the study is to assess the potential impact of physical inactivity and obesity on Türkiye's health expenditures. Scope: TurkStat and OECD data from 2010 to 2020 were used as the sample. Health expenditures are categorized under the headings of medical expenditures, laboratory tests, medicines and general expenditures. Method: In this research, Descriptive statistics consisted of median and interquartile range (IR) values. Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare independent groups and Mann-Whitney test was used as a post-hoc test when necessary. Categorical variables were expressed as proportions and compared using the chi-square test. Significant associations identified by the chi-square test were further analysed using binary logistic regression, which produces odds ratio and 95% confidence interval values. Conclusion: In many countries such as Türkiye, obesity and physical inactivity lead to an increase in health problems. Obesity increases the risk of a number of chronic diseases, which puts more burden on the health system. In addition, obesity and physical inactivity have a high potential impact on health expenditures. These include factors such as increased expenditures for the treatment of obesity-related diseases and obesity-related job losses. Likewise, physical inactivity is a major cause of many health problems. In Türkiye, obesity rates are increasing and physical inactivity is widespread. Sedentary and abdominally obese patients were found to have higher expenditure rates than patients with only abdominal obesity. There is a parallel relationship between abdominal obesity and physical inactivity, which has a significant impact on overall health expenditures.