NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study: Overweight, Obesity, and Mortality in a Large Prospective Cohort of Persons 50 to 71 Years Old
By: Source: AARP.org Date Posted: 2007-02-09 17:09:09.240985-05:00
Summary
Excess body fat has long been recognized as a harbinger of disease and early death, and much has been written about the medical consequences of the rise in obesity among baby boomers and Americans in general. Although there is little, if any, dispute about obesity contributing to an increased risk of death, questions have been raised about the likelihood of the risk of death being increased by 'overweight', that is, moderate elevations in a person’s body-mass index (BMI).
In order to determine BMI, one’s weight is divided by his or her height squared (that is, multiplied by itself). A person with a BMI of 30.0 or more is obese while someone having a BMI of 25.0 to 29.9 is considered merely overweight which is the category in question.
The NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study examined BMI in relation to the risk of death from any cause in 527,265 male and female AARP members whose BMI was calculated from self-reported weight and height measurements. The participants were between ages 50 to 71 at enrollment in 1995-96, and resided in California, Florida, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, North Carolina, Louisiana, and metropolitan Atlanta and Detroit.
During a maximum follow-up of 10 years, 61,317 participants (42,173 men and 19,144 women) died, and analysis found an increased risk of death for both men and women at all ages in the highest and lowest BMI categories in all racial or ethnic groups. The study concluded that midlife individuals with excess body weight face an increased risk of death whether they’re obese or simply overweight.
View the abstract or visit the study website to learn more about the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study.
Further information about the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study may also be obtained by contacting Nancy Wood of AARP at media@aarp.org or 202-434-2583.
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