Overweight patients cost WA $240m a year

Overweight patients are costing West Australian hospitals more than $240 million a year, a new report shows.

The Department of Health report studied emergency and in-patient expenditure for 18 conditions all associated with overweight patients, including osteoarthritis, type 2 diabetes, hypertensive disease and congestive heart failure.

It was conservatively estimated the cost to WA public hospitals made up more than five per cent of total hospital costs, and was rising rapidly.

The report's author, Dr Ben Scalley, said the report highlighted some worrying trends and the cost was likely to be much higher.

"Our findings highlight the urgent need to develop policies and programs that address excess body mass in the Western Australian community," Dr Scalley said.

"If current trends continue we can expect the costs of 2011 to have more than doubled by 2021, with projections predicting costs of $488.4 million."

The study revealed that in 2011, 62,962 patients were admitted for at least one day with illnesses attributed to excess body mass, with 8655 presentations at emergency departments resulting in a cost of $3.7 million.

Overweight men were more likely to need hospital treatment than women, and the most costly age group for excess body mass-related harms was the 60-69 year old group - for which there was large expenditure on osteoarthritis.