Prevention measures against chronic diseases such as obesity, hypertension and diabetes will lead to both health benefits as well as medical cost savings in older Americans, a new study indicates.

Researchers tracked a national cohort of persons 51 and 52 years of age and projected their health and medical spending in prevention scenarios for diabetes, hypertension, obesity and smoking. The gain in life span from successful treatment of a person aged 51 years for obesity would be 0.85 years; for hypertension, 2.05 years; and for diabetes, 3.17 years. In addition, a 51- or 52-year-old who quit smoking would gain 3.44 years. The study claims that despite living longer, those successfully treated would still accumulate less health care spending over their lifetime for obesity (savings of $7,168), hypertension (savings of $13,702) and diabetes (savings of $34,483). Smoking cessation, however, would cost an additional $15,959 over an individual's life.

The researchers suggest, "Our data indicate that primary prevention could improve the health and longevity of future cohorts of elderly persons in the United States at a relatively low cost."

Source
American Journal of Public Health