pyhsical inactivity

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The cost o physical inactivity What is the lack o participation in physical activity costing Australia?

August 2007

• Physically inactive Australian adults are costingthe healthcare system an avoidable $1.5 billiona year

• Almost 9 million Australian adults do not doenough physical activity on a daily basis

• Not doing enough physical activity doubles the

risk of cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes,and obesity, and increases the risk of breastand bowel cancer, depression and anxiety



4 What is physical inactivity costing Australia?

6 How much activity is enough?

8 The health impacts o physical inactivity

10 Other costs o physical inactivity

11 Need help getting active?

Contents

2



Australia is a sport loving nation

Many o us live and breathe to support our avourite

sporting team, we thrive on sporting rivalries betweenclub, state, and country. As a nation we pride ourselves

on our passion or sport being second to none around

the world.

However, new research conrms our sports obsession

is not refected in our sports participation and the

lack o participation in physical activity in Australia is

costing many people their health, in some cases

their lie, and costing the economy signicantly.

3



4

What is physical inactivity costing Australia?

For the rst time, Medibank Private has put a

dollar gure on the cost o physical inactivity

to the Australian healthcare system.

Research commissioned by Medibank Private,

conducted by Econtech (an independent

economic consultancy), has calculated the

gross and net direct health costs o physical

inactivity o seven medical conditions:

• Coronaryheart • Breastcancer

disease(CHD) • Coloncancer

• Stroke • Depression

• Type2diabetes • Falls

The research estimated the direct costs,

attributable to physical inactivity, or the seven

medical conditions, based on medical evidence

showing a strong relationship between physical

inactivity and the increased risk o mortality

and/or incidence o these conditions.

The research revealed 17% o the total health

cost o treating these seven conditions can

be attributed to physical inactivity amongst

Australian adults2 – equating to $1.5 billion

in direct healthcare costs.

1 The National Physical Activity guidelines (NPA guidelines) or Australians recommend 30 minutes o

moderate-intensity physical activity a day as the minimum requirement or good health. However, to

be considered ‘physically active’ the NPA Survey states you should participate in at least 150 minutes

o moderate-intensity physical activity over at least fve sessions in a week.

2 Adult Australians defned as 18 – 75.

If more Australians were physically active for just 30 minutesa day1 the Australian healthcare system could save $1.5

billion a year, whilst creating a healthier community.

Direct Health costs attributable tophysical inactivity by medical condition,

Australia, 2006/07Figure 1

$2,500

$2,000

$1,500

$1,000

$500

$0

CHD

Cost attributable

to other factors ($M)

Cost attributable

to inactivity ($M)

$372

$162

$211

$42 $61

$177

$469

$1,713 $1,152 $864 $311 $283 $1,295 $1,729

Stroke Type 2

diabetes

Breast

cancer

Colon

cancer

Depression

symptoms

Falls

( $ M i l l

i o n , p e r a n n u m )

Source: Econtech estimates.

Note: CHD stands or Coronary Heart Disease.



5

Contribution of medical conditionsto overall direct gross inactivity cost

Figure 2

Source: Econtech Note: CHD stands or Coronary Heart Disease.

The $1.5 billion cost reers to direct healthexpenditure, in the public and private sectors,

or the prevention, diagnosis and treatment

o medical conditions attributable to

physical inactivity.

O the $1.5 billion the largest proportion,

$468.7 million, is spent on costs related to alls,

ollowed by $371.5 million or costs related to

Coronary Heart Disease due to physical inactivity.

The research calculated both the gross and net

direct health costs o physical inactivity, $1.5 billion

is the gross cost. The net cost was calculatedas the direct gross costs less the expenses

associated with participation in physical

activity including sports injuries and tness-

related expenses. The direct health costs o

sports injuries and the cost o participating in

tness related activities was recorded at

$831.4 million.

These gures clearly demonstrate that the cost

o physical inactivity ar outweighs the cost o

participating in tness activities and the cost ohealthcare or sports injuries.

Total = $1.5 billion

Depression

symptoms

12% ($177.3m)

Colon

cancer

4% ($61.4m)

Breast

cancer

3% ($42.2m)

Type 2 diabetes

14% ($210.7m)

Stroke

11% ($162.4m)

CHD

25% ($371.5m)

Falls31% ($468.7m)



6

How much activity is enough?

According to Australia’s National Physical Activity

Survey,tobeconsideredphysicallyactive,

a total o at least 150 minutes (2.5 hours) o

moderate activity should be completed over

at least ve separate sessions during a week.

The intensity o the physical activity should

represent a noticable increase in a person’s

breathing and heart rate.

This is more straight orward than it may appear.

For example 150 minutes can be broken down

to a 15 minute walk – to the train, around the

block, with the kid’s to school – ve times a

week, plus one exercise session o one hour

and 15 minutes a week, o whatever activity

appeals to you.

Are we doing enough?

The2000NationalPhysicalActivitySurveyfound

that 54.2% o the Australian adult population

were not getting enough physical activity to

remain healthy.

Assuming that the prevalence o inactivity has

remained constant in 2007, the research reveals

that close to nine million adult Australians are

putting their health, quality and length o lie

at risk due to insucient physical activity.

Prevalence of physical inactivity in AustraliaFigure 3

Source: Econtech and 1997, 1999 and 2000 National Activity Surveys.

Note: (a) The estimates presented in this chart are age standardised 3.

(b) 2007 estimate was calculated by assuming the prevalence o inactivity remains unchanged

or the period 2000-07.

It is widely accepted that physical activity is essential inimproving health and wellbeing, but how much physical

activity is enough to maintain a healthy lifestyle?

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

1997

49.4%

1999

55.3%

2000

54.2%

2007 estimate

54.2%



7

% of people by age group achieving sedentary,insufcient and sufcient levels of physical activity

Figure 4

Source: National Physical Activity Survey 2000.

Sedentary = Participating in little to no physical activity

Insufcient = Participating in physical activity, but less than required to be classifed as physically active

Sufcient = Participating at least 150 minutes o moderate activity accrued over fve sessions

within a week

3 Age-standardised rates enable comparisons to be made between populations which have dierent age

structures. It eectively minimises the eects o dierences in age composition and thus acilitates valid

comparison o rates or populations with dierent age compositions.

Are children active enough?

The estimates o the prevalence o physical

inactivity presented in this report do not include

children and adolescents, which makes it highly

likely that the total physical inactivity gures o the

total Australian population are higher than those

presented in this report.

65 - 75

55 - 64

45 - 54

35 - 44

25 - 34

18 - 24

44%

41%

42%

39%20%

40%18%

39%17%

42%

44%14%

47%

37%16%

63%

30%6%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Sedentary (%) Insufficient (%) Sufficient (%)

A g e



8

The health impacts o physical inactivity

According to the World Health Organisation,

physical inactivity causes:

• 2milliondeathsayearworldwide5;

• increasesallcausesofmortality.

To calculate the gross cost o physicalinactivity this research measured the impact

o physical inactivity on each o the seven

medical conditions.

To estimate the proportion o the incidence o

each medical condition that may be attributable

to physical inactivity a ormula was used to

calculate the Population Attributable Risk (PAR)

o each condition.

The PAR puts a value on the incidence o

medical conditions amongst physically inactive

Australian adults compared with physically

active Australian adults.

It calculates the maximum proportion o the

seven conditions attributable to physical

inactivity, which shows the potential reduction

in the prevalence o a disease or incident that

could be achieved i the Australian adult

population were more physically active.

For example, it is estimated that nearly

950,000 6 Australian adults aged over 25 have

diabetes. According to this research, up to

20% o this gure could be attributed to

physical inactivity.

Physical inactivity doubles the risk of cardiovasculardisease, Type 2 diabetes, and obesity, and increases the

risk of breast and bowel cancer, depression and anxiety 4.

4 WHO (2002). Risks to health-promoting healthy living. World health report, pp 60.5 World Health Organisation (2003), Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health.6 Australian Institute o Health and Welare, Australia’s health 2006, pg.70.



9

Source: Econtech estimates. Note: CHD stands or Coronary Heart Disease.

The PAR is calculated by looking at the prevalence

o inactivity among Australian adults and the

relative risk o the seven medical conditions.

The relative risk measures the association

between physical inactivity and a particular

medical condition and is determined by dividing

the rate o the disease among inactive people

by the rate o disease among active people.The relative risk rates the increased risk o

suering rom one o the conditions or

physically inactive people in comparison to

physically active people. For example, physically

inactive people have a 40% higher risk o

suering rom Coronary Heart Disease than

those who are physically active and a 45%

higher risk o contracting

Type 2 diabetes.

Population Attributable Risk (PAR) estimatesfor conditions related to physical inactivity

Figure 5

Relative risk estimates forselected conditions

Figure 6

Medical Conditions Relative Risk

CHD 40%

Stroke 26%

Type 2 diabetes 45%

Breastcancer 25%

Colon cancer 40%

Depression symptoms 25%

Falls 50%

Source: Armstrong et al. (2004) and Stephenson

et al. (2000).

Note: CHD stands or Coronary Heart Disease.

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%

CHD Stroke Type 2

diabetes

Breast

cancer

Colon

cancer

Depression

symptoms

Falls

18%

12%

20%

12%

18%

12%

21%

Stroke 26%

Breastcancer 25%

Depression symptoms 25%



Other costs o physical inactivity

10

Costs such as:

• Pain,disability,anxiety,andsufferingdue

to the medical conditions;

• Areductioninqualityoflife–oftenfor

the person with the medical conditionand their amily;

• Shorterlifeexpectancy;and

• Animpactonworkforceparticipation

due to absenteeism and presenteeism.

Not participating in enough sport and physical

activity during our lives clearly has a negative

impact on our lie expectancy and quality o lie.

On average, participating in moderate to

vigorous levels o physical activity throughout

our lie can add 2.5 years to the total lie

expectancy or both men and women.

In the current social environment o an ageingpopulation and a society beset with preventable

and chronic illnesses such as obesity and Type

2 diabetes, the message to move more and

more oten, is imperative to ensuring a

healthier, more active, Australia.

Of course there are also indirect and intangible healthcosts that come with the medical conditions attributable

to physical inactivity.



At Medibank Private we believe a good way to preventsickness is to promote health and we want to help

members take a more active role in managing their health

and wellbeing.

11

Medibank Private members have automatic

access to better health online, a health, tness

and wellbeing program.

better health online oers exercise planners,healthy recipes, and health related articles

to help people improve, or maintain, a

healthy liestyle.

For those with an active liestyle but motivated

to tackle specic sporting goals or training or

competition, better health online also oers

ActiveSportPrograms.

ActiveSportProgramsarepreparedby

experts to suit individual sporting ambitions

and match various levels o expertise with

daily warm-up and workout plans – theprograms cover:

• Marathon

• FunRuns

• Openwaterswims

• Strengthtraining

• Sprintdistancetriathlons

• Cycling

• Skiing

Startgettingmorephysicallyactive

by visiting better health online –medibank.tness2live.com.au

Need help getting active?

Medibank Private is Australia’s largest provider o private health insurance,covering over 3 million people. Medibank Private oers health insurance to

all Australians through retail and corporate products, as well as catering orinternational students and visitors.

About Medibank Private:

This research was conducted by Econtech on behal o Medibank Private.Econtech is one o Australia’s leading independent economic consultancies,withanemphasisoneconomicmodelling.Specialisinginconsultingontaxation,policy and orecasting, as well as orecasting reports and sotware.

About Econtech:



Phone132 331

[email protected]

MedibankPrivateLimitedABN47080890259

MPLM17100807

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