Project description
Economics of obesity and population-based prevention
Obesity is a major contributor to the disease burden in Europe, leading to substantial healthcare expenses and productivity loss. Cost-effective obesity prevention strategies are needed to ensure the sustainability of healthcare and social security systems. Implementing population-based interventions (PBIs) aimed at changing the economic, social, and environmental context shows promise, yet robust evidence on their health and economic impact is lacking. The ERC-funded EcIMPACT project will measure the health and economic impact of two policy-relevant PBIs and determine the effects of excess body weight on long-term health and economic outcomes. The project will use and combine innovative methods across several academic disciplines to provide evidence for decision-makers regarding the value of PBIs to ultimately improve population health in an efficient way.
Objective
Overweight and obesity account for one eighth of the disease burden and five percent of health care expenditures in Europe and cause large societal productivity losses. Thus, cost-effective strategies for the prevention of overweight and obesity are urgently needed to assure the financial sustainability of health and social security systems. Population-based interventions (PBIs) that change the social and environmental context are promising strategies, however, robust evidence on their health and economic impact is lacking. This uncertainty might lead to inefficient resource allocation and harm for patients and society. In EcIMPACT, I aim to 1) quantify the real-world causal effect of two policy relevant PBIs on body weight, 2) estimate the causal effect of excess body weight on health and economic outcomes, and 3) model the long-term health and economic impact of PBIs by combining results from Aims 1 and 2. I will do so by combining innovative methods from economics, public health, and epidemiology. Specifically, I will pool data from large cohort studies, surveillance initiatives, and household panels across Europe and use econometric methods that exploit natural policy experiments (Aim 1), link primary and secondary data sources that comprise granular genetic, phenotypic, and socio-economic information and apply cutting-edge Mendelian Randomization techniques (Aim 2), and build a simulation model that integrates those estimated parameters in a novel model type (Aim 3). Synthesizing cutting-edge methods from different academic disciplines, EcIMPACT will provide urgently needed evidence for decision makers on the value of PBIs that will ultimately improve population health. EcIMPACT will advance public health research substantially by showing that combinations of innovative quasi-experimental and model-based techniques, which leverage the full potential of modern data infrastructures, can guide health policy in an efficient and timely manner.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been validated by the project's team.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been validated by the project's team.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2024-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
80333 Muenchen
Germany
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.