Economic burden of low physical activity and high sedentary behaviour in Finland.

BACKGROUND: Low physical activity and high sedentary behaviour are unquestionably relevant for public health while also increasing direct and indirect costs. METHODS: The authors examined the direct and indirect costs attributable to low physical activity and high sedentary behaviour in Finland in 2017. Costs related to major non-communicable diseases drawn from Finnish registries covered direct costs (outpatient visits, days of inpatient care, medication and institutional eldercare) and indirect costs (sickness-related absences, disability pensions, unemployment benefits, all-cause mortality and losses of income tax revenue). Prevalences of low physical activity and high sedentary behaviour (≥8 hours per 16 waking hours) were based on self-reports among adolescents or accelerometer data among adults and the elderly from three Finnish population studies: FINFIT 2017, Health 2011 and the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. Cost calculations used adjusted population attributable fractions (PAF) and regression models. Total annual costs were obtained by multiplying PAF by the total costs of the given disease. RESULTS: The total costs of low physical activity in Finland in 2017 came to approximately €3.2 billion, of which direct costs accounted for €683 million and indirect ones for €2.5 billion. Costs attributable to high sedentary behaviour totalled roughly €1.5 billion. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that low physical activity and high sedentary behaviour levels create substantial societal costs. Therefore, actions intended to increase physical activity and reduce excessive sedentary behaviour throughout life may yield not only better health but also considerable savings to society.

The effect of weight on labor market outcomes: An application of genetic instrumental variables.

This paper contributes to the literature on the labor market consequences of obesity by using a novel instrument: genetic risk score, which reflects the predisposition to higher body mass index (BMI) across many genetic loci. We estimate instrumental variable models of the effect of BMI on labor market outcomes using Finnish data that have many strengths, for example, BMI that is measured rather than self-reported, and data on earnings and social income transfers that are from administrative tax records and are thus free of the problems associated with nonresponse, reporting error or top coding. The empirical results are sensitive to whether we use a narrower or broader genetic risk score, and to model specification. For example, models using the narrower genetic risk score as an instrument imply that a one-unit increase in BMI is associated with 6.9% lower wages, 1.8% fewer years employed, and a 3 percentage point higher probability of receiving any social income transfers. However, when we use a newer, broader genetic risk score, we cannot reject the null hypothesis of no effect. Future research using genetic risk scores should examine the sensitivity of their results to the risk score used.

Genetic endowments, parental resources and adult health: Evidence from the Young Finns Study.

This paper uses longitudinal survey data linked to administrative registers to examine socioeconomic gradients in health, particularly whether the effects of genetic endowments interact with the socioeconomic resources of the parental household. We find that genetic risk scores contribute to adult health measured by biomarkers. This result is consistent with the findings from genome-wide association studies. Socioeconomic gradients in health differ based on biomarker and resource measures. Family education is negatively related to obesity and the waist-hip ratio, and family income is negatively related to low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Parental resources do not modify the effects of genetic endowment on adult health. However, there is evidence for gene-family income interactions for triglyceride levels, particularly among women.

Income and Physical Activity among Adults: Evidence from Self-Reported and Pedometer-Based Physical Activity Measurements.

This study examined the relationship between income and physical activity by using three measures to illustrate daily physical activity: the self-reported physical activity index for leisure-time physical activity, pedometer-based total steps for overall daily physical activity, and pedometer-based aerobic steps that reflect continuous steps for more than 10 min at a time. The study population consisted of 753 adults from Finland (mean age 41.7 years; 64% women) who participated in 2011 in the follow-up of the ongoing Young Finns study. Ordinary least squares models were used to evaluate the associations between income and physical activity. The consistency of the results was explored by using register-based income information from Statistics Finland, employing the instrumental variable approach, and dividing the pedometer-based physical activity according to weekdays and weekend days. The results indicated that higher income was associated with higher self-reported physical activity for both genders. The results were robust to the inclusion of the control variables and the use of register-based income information. However, the pedometer-based results were gender-specific and depended on the measurement day (weekday vs. weekend day). In more detail, the association was positive for women and negative or non-existing for men. According to the measurement day, among women, income was positively associated with aerobic steps despite the measurement day and with totals steps measured on the weekend. Among men, income was negatively associated with aerobic steps measured on weekdays. The results indicate that there is an association between income and physical activity, but the association is gender-specific and depends on the measurement type of physical activity.