Cost-Effectiveness and Long-Term Savings of the Bright Bodies Intervention for Childhood Obesity.

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the cost and cost-effectiveness of Bright Bodies, a high-intensity, family-based intervention that has been demonstrated to improve body mass index (BMI) among children with obesity in a randomized controlled trial. METHODS: We developed a microsimulation model to project 10-year BMI trajectories of 8 to 16-year-old children with obesity, using data from the National Longitudinal Surveys and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention growth charts, and we validated the model using data from the Bright Bodies trial and a follow-up study. We used the trial data to estimate the average reduction in BMI per person-year over 10 years and the incremental costs of Bright Bodies, compared with the traditional clinical weight management (control), from a health system's perspective in 2020 US dollars. Using results from studies of Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data, we projected the long-term obesity-related medical expenditure. RESULTS: In the primary analysis, assuming depreciating effects postintervention, Bright Bodies is expected to reduce a participant's BMI by 1.67 kg/m2 (95% uncertainty interval 1.43-1.94) per year over 10 years as compared with control. The incremental intervention cost of Bright Bodies was $360 ($292-$421) per person compared with the clinical control. Nevertheless, savings in obesity-related healthcare expenditure offset these costs and the expected cost-savings of Bright Bodies is $1126 ($689-$1693) per person over 10-years. The projected time to achieve cost-savings compared with clinical control was 3.58 (2.63-5.17) years. CONCLUSIONS: Although resource-intensive, our findings suggest that Bright Bodies is cost-saving compared to the clinical control by averting future obesity-related healthcare costs among children with obesity.