Study claims obese people take more sick days off work

Researchers from Vienna, studying over 122,000 individuals across Europe, have highlighted the significant impact of obesity on work absenteeism, signaling a growing concern for the labor market. These findings, presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Italy, underscore the urgent need for policymakers to prioritize initiatives promoting healthy weight maintenance.

Although the study didn't include countries like the UK, France, Ireland, Malta, and Iceland due to insufficient data, the results from the 26 countries that were analyzed reveal that obesity increases the likelihood of taking sick leave, with the severity of obesity correlating with higher absenteeism rates. The research, partly sponsored by Novo Nordisk—a pharmaceutical company producing a weight-loss injection prescribed by the NHS—calls for immediate action.