ABSTRACT

The Cost of Physical Inactivity in Nova Scotia

Physical activity provides proven health benefits. It protects against heart disease, stroke, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, colon cancer, breast cancer, osteoporosis, obesity, depression, anxiety, and stress. Epidemiological studies estimate that 36% of heart disease, 27% of osteoporosis, 20% of stroke, hypertension, diabetes 2, and colon cancer, and 11% of breast cancer are attributable to physical inactivity.

Regular physical activity also protects against obesity and assists weight control; fosters development of healthy muscles, bones and joints; increases strength and endurance; improves behavioural development in children and adolescents; and helps maintain function and preserve independence in older adults. Studies show that regular exercisers have much less overall lifetime morbidity than those who are sedentary, indicating that avoided medical costs due to physical activity are not simply deferred to older ages.

According to the Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute, 62% of Nova Scotians and 61% of Canadians are currently too inactive to reap the health benefits of regular physical activity.

It is estimated that physical inactivity costs the Nova Scotia health care system $66.5 million a year in hospital, physician and drug costs alone, equal to 4% of total government spending on these services. When all direct health care costs are added, including private expenditures, a sedentary lifestyle costs Nova Scotians $107 million a year in direct medical care expenditures.

This spending is currently added to the provincial Gross Domestic Product and economic growth statistics, and is thus mistakenly taken as a sign of prosperity and progress. The Genuine Progress Index counts this spending due to physical inactivity as a cost - not a gain - to the economy.

Physical inactivity costs the Nova Scotia economy an additional $247 million each year in indirect productivity losses due to premature death and disability. Adding direct and indirect costs, the total economic burden of physical inactivity in Nova Scotia is estimated at $354 million annually.

More than 700 Nova Scotians die prematurely each year due to physical inactivity, accounting for 9% of all premature deaths. These premature deaths result in the loss of more than 2,200 potential years of life every year in the province before age 70. In other words, if all Nova Scotians were physically active, the province would gain 2,200 productive years of life each year, with corresponding gains to the economy.

If just 10% fewer Nova Scotians were physically inactive - that is, if the rate of physical inactivity were 56% instead of 62% - the province could save an estimated $4.6 million every year in avoided hospital, drug, and physician costs, and $7.5 million in total health care spending. Added to an estimated $17 million in productivity gains, total economic savings to Nova Scotia from a 10% reduction in physical inactivity amount to $24.7 million.

Given the enormous health care burden of a sedentary lifestyle, health campaigns aimed at promoting regular physical activity, including provision of adequate access to quality sport and recreation programs and facilities for all Nova Scotians, have the potential to reduce the enormous human and economic burden of physical inactivity.