Lack of exercise runs up $95b global health tab: study

Health problems caused by a lack of daily physical exercise cost the world about US$67.5 billion ($95b) in 2013 — more than many countries’ GDP, researchers said yesterday.

The total was divided between US$53.8b in healthcare spending and US$13.7b in lost productivity, according to a study published in the Lancet medical journal. The research relied on economic and population data from 142 countries, representing 93 per cent of the world’s population, its authors said.

But the figure was likely an underestimate as the data covered only five diseases — coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, breast cancer and colon cancer — at least the percentage attributable to physical inactivity. The “cost calculations are based on conservative estimates, and the true cost may be even higher”, said a statement.

The paper was the first to estimate the monetary cost of the global “pandemic” of inactivity.

Living a sedentary lifestyle is associated with more than 5 million deaths in the world every year, the researchers said.

Of the total estimated cost, US$31.2b was tax revenue lost to public healthcare spending, US$12.9b in spending by the private sector, including health insurance com- panies, and US$9.7b in direct medical costs for households.

A second study in the series said people who sit for eight hours a day may cancel out the increased risk of death this carries by doing at least an hour of exercise per day.

The World Health Organisation advises 150 minutes or more of physical activity per week — much less than the daily 60 minutes recommended by the study.