Costing a pilot complex community-based childhood obesity intervention

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Economics
• Pediatrics

Background:

• Childhood obesity presents significant long-term health and economic challenges.
• Evidence on intervention effectiveness is growing, but cost data remains limited.
• This study estimated direct costs of a pilot community-based childhood obesity treatment program.

Purpose of the Study:

• To estimate the direct costs incurred by healthcare and public sector agencies for a community-based childhood obesity intervention.
• To provide cost data for a developing field of childhood obesity interventions.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective review of resource utilization for a 12-month community-based intervention.
• Included 96 children (aged 8-16 years) with BMI >98th centile and low quality of life.
• Assessed direct costs to health care and other public sector agencies.

Main Results:

• Total direct program costs ranged from £82,380 to £120,474.
• Cost per participant varied from £858 to £1255, depending on venue cost inclusion.
• Costs were sensitive to participant numbers, with per-participant costs ranging from £691 to £2978.

Conclusions:

• Community-based childhood obesity services can be delivered at a reasonable cost.
• These costs may be lower compared to services delivered by health professionals.
• Further research is needed on broader service impacts, user costs, and program effectiveness.