The U.S. would save billions of dollars if American children increased their physical activity, according to a study published in Health Affairs.
For the study, researchers used a computational simulation model representative of U.S. children ages 8 to 11 in 2016 to examine economic and health effects of increasing children's physical activity.
Only about 32 percent of U.S. children meet the Sports and Fitness Industry Association's definition of "active to a healthy level" (25 minutes of high-calorie-burning physical activity three times a week), the study notes. If this physical activity level remains unchanged, more than 8 million American youths would be overweight or obese in 2020, which would lead to a net present value of $1.1 trillion in annual direct medical costs and $1.7 trillion in annual lost productivity during the children's lifetimes, researchers said.
However, if 50 percent of U.S. children became "active to a healthy level," the U.S. would see a 4.18 percent drop in obese and overweight youth, the study found. Researchers said this increase to 50 percent would avert $8.1 billion in annual direct medical costs and $13.8 billion in annual lost productivity. Increasing the number of children who are "active to a healthy level" to 75 percent would avert $16.6 billion in annual direct medical costs and $23.6 billion in annual lost productivity, according to the study.
"These numbers underestimate the impact of increasing physical activity, as physical activity also influences health through important mechanisms that are independent of the effect of physical activity on weight status," the study's authors wrote. "Current efforts to increase physical activity may not match the magnitude of the possible savings, which suggests that increasing physical activity should be a higher national priority."