| "MONDAY, April 23 (HealthDay News) -- A new study of almost 12,000 Duke University employees found that obese workers filed twice the number of workers' compensation claims, had seven times higher medical costs from those claims, and had 13 times more lost work days due to work injury/illness than non-obese employees." "The study, by researchers at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., also found that obese workers in high-risk jobs incurred the highest medical and economic costs of all employees." ""We all know obesity is bad for the individual, but it isn't solely a personal medical problem -- it spills over into the workplace and has concrete economic costs," study author Dr. Truls Ostbye, a professor of community and family medicine, said in a prepared statement." ""Given the strong link between obesity and worker's compensations costs, maintaining healthy weight is not only important to workers but should also be a high priority for employers," Ostbye said. "Work-based programs designed to target healthful eating and physical activity should be developed and then evaluated as part of a strategy to make
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