White Paper

A Weighty Matter: Obesity and Workers’ Compensation

Obesity has many implications for injured workers, from being a catalyst for injuries to increasing healthcare costs and lengthening time away from work.
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White Paper Summary

An injured worker’s recovery is influenced by many factors – type of injury, adherence to physical therapy or medication regimen, and so on – but perhaps the greatest indicator of longer recovery times is comorbidities.

And one of the most prevalent comorbidities in the United States is obesity. More than 2 in 5 U.S. adults are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The World Health Organization summarizes obesity as a chronic complex disease defined by excess fat deposits that can impair health, noting that anyone with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or more is considered obese.

Beyond negatively impacting a person’s health, obesity has other implications for injured workers. It can be a catalyst for the injuries themselves, and afterward, it can increase healthcare costs and lengthen time away from work.

For more content like this from Healthesystems visit their RxInformer clinical journal website.

Healthesystems is a leading provider of Pharmacy Benefit Management (PBM) & Ancillary Benefits Management programs for the workers' compensation industry.