Study: Even Modest Overweight Is Linked to Mortality Risk

Even modest overweight is associated with an increase in mortality risk, according to a recent meta-analysis. These results challenge previous suggestions that slightly elevated body mass index (BMI) levels may have a protective effect.

In order to assess the relevance of overweight and obesity to mortality risk in various populations, researchers conducted individual-participant data meta-analyses of prospective studies of BMI.
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Their analysis included data from 10,625,411 participants from 239 prospective studies. Overall, 3,951,455 individuals were never-smokers without chronic diseases at baseline who survived 5 years. Of those, 385,879 died during follow-up.

Participants with a BMI of 20.0 to 24.9 kg/m² (normal weight) had the lowest mortality rates, which increased significantly beginning at BMI of 25.0 to 27.4 kg/m². Increased risk was also observed with BMI levels under 20.0 kg/m².

“The associations of both overweight and obesity with higher all-cause mortality were broadly consistent in four continents,” the researchers concluded. “This finding supports strategies to combat the entire spectrum of excess adiposity in many populations.”

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Global BMI Mortality Collaboration. Body-mass index and all-cause mortality: individual-participant-data meta-analysis of 239 prospective studies in four continents [published online July 13, 2016]. Lancet. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)30175-1.