Reducing sex disparities in physical activity may avoid thousands of obesity cases

Key takeaways:

• Over 28,000 cases of obesity and overweight in girls may be averted if physical activity disparities were eliminated entirely.
• The data justify investing in changes needed to eliminate disparities in youth, a researcher said.

Reducing or eliminating physical activity disparities between boys and girls may result in substantially fewer cases of overweight and obesity and savings of around $780 million, results from a model simulation study suggest.

The findings, published in JAMA Network Open, also showed that approximately $1.5 billion could be saved by eliminating sex disparities in sports participation.

“This study shows how eliminating sex disparities in physical activity and sports would not only be the fair thing to do, it would also be economically beneficial for society,” Bruce Y. Lee, MD, MBA, a study co-author and professor of health policy and management at CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy, said in a press release. “Eventually efforts to increase physical activity and sport participation for girls and women could end up paying for themselves and more.”

According to Lee and colleagues, evidence has shown persistent disparities in already low physical activity among youth, with girls often having more sedentary behavior and less participation in sports compared with boys.

In the analysis, the researchers assessed what the health and economic outcomes would be over the course of a lifetime if the physical activity and sports participation levels of girls increased to match those of boys the same age.

They used an agent-based computational model that represented 8,299,353 children and adolescents aged 6 to 17 years in the United States, their physical activity and sports participation levels and several physical characteristics , including BMI.

Eliminating physical activity sex disparities entirely averted 28,061 cases of overweight and obesity and 4,869 cases of weight-related diseases among girls during their lifetimes, and resulted in recurring savings of:

• $333.45 million in direct medical costs; and
• $446.42 million in productivity losses.

However, the researchers noted the unlikely scenario of eliminating all physical activity disparities, so they additionally ran simulations that reduced disparities between 25% to 75%.

They found that reducing physical activity disparities by 50% averted 9,027 cases of overweight and obesity and 2,663 cases of weight-related disease in girls.

Meanwhile, eliminating sex disparities in sports participation entirely averted 41,499 cases of overweight and obesity and 8,939 weight-related disease cases, which resulted in recurring savings of $713.48 million in direct medical costs and $839.68 million in productivity losses.

Reducing sports participation disparities by 50% resulted in 20,422 fewer cases of overweight and obesity and 4,622 cases of weight-related diseases among girls.

Lee and colleagues acknowledged some study limitations. They did not assess other potential physical and mental health benefits from eliminating disparities, while the model also did not represent how disparities varied based on factors like race and ethnicity or socioeconomic status.

“Sports participation disparities among boys and girls can exist due to fewer opportunities for girls to play sports, especially in high school, and less social support,” Jessie Heneghan, MCP, a study co-author and a research associate at CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy, explained in the release. “Our study shows that the cost savings of increasing girls’ sports participation can justify investing in the changes needed to increase it.”

References:

• Eliminating physical activity disparities between male and female youth could save hundreds of millions of dollars, new study says. Available at: https://sph.cuny.edu/life-at-sph/news/2024/11/26/eliminating-physical-activity-disparities/. Published Nov. 26, 2024. Accessed Dec. 12, 2024.
• Tamura K, et al. JAMA Netw Open. 2024;doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.46775.