The cost of obesity in Canada

Table 1: Relative risks for selected comorbidities in obese subjects and the population attributable fractions (PAFs) for obesity
Comorbidity	Relative risk (and 95% CI)		PAF* (and 95% CI), %
Breast cancer, postmenopausal26	1.31	(0.9–1.96)	9.1	(0–15.7)
Coronary artery disease16,17	1.72	(1.19–2.48)	17.9	(8.3–34.5)
Colorectal cancer27	1.16	(0.82–1.64)	4.7	(0–15.7)
Endometrial cancer28	2.19	(1.05–4.56)	26.6	(8.6–58.3)
Gallbladder disease24,25	1.85	(1.41–2.43)	20.6	(12.6–31.8)
Hyperlipidemia23	1.41	(0.84–2.38)	11.2	(0–28.9)
Hypertension19,20	2.51	(1.98–3.18)	31.6	(23.1–40.0)
Pulmonary embolism39	2.39	(1.28–4.48)	29.8	(7.3–52.3)
Stroke18	1.14	(0.91–1.42)	4.0	(0–11.1)
Type 2 diabetes21,22	4.37	(2.76–6.93)	50.7	(35.8–65.6)
Note: CI = confidence interval. *The PAF indicates the extent to which each comorbidity and its management costs are attributable to obesity. It is calculated using the formula P(RR – 1)/[P(RR – 1) + 1], where P is the probability of a person being obese in a given population and RR is the relative risk for the disease in an obese subject.

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