Health Economic Research

Physical activity and its promotion is at the top of a health policy to promote a healthy lifestyle. The World Health Organization WHO and numerous national initiatives attach great importance to physical activity in order to prevent disease and promote health and well-being. The European Commission has also set up an expert group on Health Enhancing Physical Activity (HEPA). They all recommend physical activity, which has positive individual and social effects. At the same time, they contribute to reducing the high cost dynamics in the health care system of developed economies.

A first attempt to estimate the overall economic costs of physical inactivity in Austria was made by Weiß et al. in 2000. The results of these calculations are based on a database from 1998, which shows that a whole generation of children and adolescents have now grown up with significantly less movement intensity. However, not only lifestyles have changed, but also the state of technology and the costs of the health care system, so that an update of the results of that time became necessary. SpEA research shows both the current inactivity-related costs and the economic benefits of physical activity. They thus lay the foundation for an evidence-based health policy using (mass) sports resources.