Approximately 30% of Americans are obese, and hospitalizations related to that diagnosis made up 6% of inpatient stays in 2004--an increase of 112% since 1996, according to a new statistical brief by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. In contrast, the greatest rate of increase in hospitalizations for any other condition during that time was 13%. More than half (55.2%) of the patients hospitalized principally for obesity were age 18 to 44; 42.9% were age 45-64. Although rates of obesity are roughly the same for men and women, 82% of patients hospitalized for obesity were women. (For all other conditions, women make up 53% of inpatients.)
The mean length of stay for obesity as a primary diagnosis was 3.1 days, and the mean cost was $11,700. The 20 conditions associated with obesity accounted for 60% of all hospital stays that included obesity as a secondary diagnosis. Obese patients are at particularly high risk for coronary atherosclerosis, with an incidence 60% higher than in the nonobese hospitalized population. Nearly half the hospital stays for patients with obesity as a principal diagnosis involved gastric bypass and volume reduction surgery.
