The Effect of Overweight and Obesity on the Utilization of Health Services among the Adults in Taiwan

[[abstract]]The prevalence of overweight and obesity is increasing every year in Taiwan. Overweight and obesity are not only the major contributors to chronic diseases and mortality; and also are one of the main reasons which increasing the utilization of health services. This study examined the differences of the utilization of health service between overweight/obesity and the normal weight. Furthermore, it explored the differences of the utilization between overweight and obesity. This study used the data set of 2005 Survey of Social Development Trends -- Health and Security which was conducted by Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics Executive Yuan to conduct analysis. After deleting those who are younger than 20 and light-weighted, the sample size was 31,146. The descriptive analysis and the Chi-square test were employed to provide baseline and correlation statistics. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine the differences of the utilization of health service between overweight/obesity and the normal weight, and between overweight and obesity. The results of logistic regression showed overweight and obesity were more likely to be associated with higher utilization of health service than the people with normal weight, and obese people were more likely to utilize more health service than the overweight. The findings may help policy makers to emphasize the utilization issues of overweight and obesity, and to schedule special health promotion plan for verweight and obese people