Key result
High sodium diets cost Singapore ~$262 million annually, driven largely by premature mortality.
Why the study?
High sodium diet is a leading behavioural risk of disease in Singapore, but the cost attributable to it from a societal perspective had not been estimated.
Does a high sodium diet increase societal and healthcare costs in the Singapore population?
Observational
Does a high sodium diet increase societal and healthcare costs in the Singapore population?
A high sodium diet imposes a substantial economic burden in Singapore, and reducing population sodium intake to 3 g/day could save an estimated USA$262 million annually in direct healthcare and productivity costs.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
The modeled societal costs of high sodium intake merit policy consideration in Singapore; leaves open whether reduction interventions would deliver comparable real-world savings.
High sodium (Na) diet is one of the leading behavioural risks of disease identified in the Singapore Burden of Disease Study. We aim to estimate the cost attributable to a high Na diet in Singapore in 2019 from a societal perspective by employing a prevalence-based approach in cost-of-illness studies. We extracted national-level healthcare data and population attributable fractions by sex and age. Costs included direct and indirect costs from inpatient treatment and productivity losses. In 2019, the annual societal cost attributable to a high Na diet was conservatively estimated to be USA$262 million (95 % uncertainty interval (UI) 218, 359 million). At least USA$67·8 million (95 % UI 48·4, 120 million) and USA$194 million (95 % UI 153, 274 million) could be saved on healthcare and indirect costs, respectively, if the daily Na intake of Singaporeans was reduced to an average of 3 g. Overall, males had higher costs compared with females at USA$221 million (95 % UI 174, 312 million) and USA$41·1 million (95 % UI 33·5, 61·7 million), respectively. Productivity loss from foregone wages due to premature mortality had the largest cost at USA$191 million (95 % UI 150, 271 million). CVD had the largest healthcare expenditure at USA$61·4 million (95 % UI 41·6, 113 million), driven by ischaemic heart disease at USA$41·0 million (95 % UI 21·4, 88·9 million). Our study found that reducing Na intake could reduce future healthcare expenditures and productivity losses. This result is vital for policy evaluation in a rapidly ageing society like Singapore, where the burden of diseases associated with high Na diet is expected to increase.
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Koh et al. (2022) conducted an observational in High sodium diet. High sodium diet vs. 3 g/day sodium intake was evaluated on Annual societal cost attributable to a high sodium diet (in millions USD) (95% CI 218-359). A high sodium diet in Singapore was estimated to cost society USA$262 million in 2019, driven largely by productivity losses from premature mortality and direct healthcare costs.
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