肥胖對罹患慢性病有影響嗎？臺灣40歲以上成人之實證分析

Is Obesity Associated with Chronic Disease Conditions? Empirical Evidence of the Taiwanese Adults Aged 40 and Above

隨著時代進步、經濟發展與環境變遷，以及民眾生活型態及飲食行為之改變，肥胖人口已逐年增加且有急遽上升之趨勢。因此，肥胖問題已是長久以來大眾所關注的焦點，亦為全球健康及醫療的重要議題。然而，肥胖議題之研究大多出現於公共衛生領域之文獻，對於肥胖對慢性病之影響效果鮮少有較完整量化的探討。有鑑於此，本研究之主要研究目的即在於彌補過往文獻之不足，嘗試量化肥胖對慢性病患病率之影響效果。本研究資料來源為2001年國民健康調查串聯全民健保資料庫，以慢性病患病率較高的40歲以上中老年成人，共5,380個樣本為研究對象，並利用Bivariate Probit Model作為實證模型，探討肥胖對慢性病的影響。實證結果發現，肥胖對慢性病有顯著之正向影響，相對於其他體位民眾而言，過重或肥胖民眾得到慢性病之機率會高出45個百分點。因此政府應宣導民眾正確的體重認知及健康觀念，透過均衡飲食及良好運動習慣，使BMI範圍保持在正常合理的最佳狀態，給予肥胖民眾有效且健康控制體重之完整配套措施，不僅可減少醫療成本，亦可減少國家之經濟負擔。

Due to the economic growth and the consequently changes in lifestyle behaviors, the prelevence of obesity is drametically increased. To date, obesity has been one of the important public health issues in the world. A considerable body of literature has focused on this topic, however, most of the existing studies are in the field of public health. Little attention has been paid to quantify the effects of obesity on chronic disease conditions. To fill this knowledge gap, this paper investigates the effects of obesity on the likelihood of having chronic disease of the middle age adults in Taiwan.In total, 5,380 adults aged 40 and above drawn from the National Health Interview Survey and National Health Insurance Profiles in 2001 were selected for empirical analysis. A bivariate probit model was estimated to capture the unobserved heterogeneity between obesity and chronic diseases. Results show that obesity is positively associated with the likelihood of having chronic diseases. Compared to the normal weight adults, those who are overweight or obese have higher likelihood of having chronically illness by 45 percentage points. These results suggest that it is neceesary for the government to promote the healthier lifestyle to keep the body shape of the adults in normal weight status.