Midlife obesity raises later risk of death: study

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Don’t kid yourself if you’re fat but
otherwise fit. Excess weight could make you sicker later in
life and might even kill you someday, researchers said on
Tuesday.

People who were overweight or obese in middle age but did
not have health problems were at much higher risk of dying from
heart disease or diabetes after age 65 than normal-weight
people, said the study published in this week’s issue of the
Journal of the American Medical Association.

“Even for those who didn’t have high blood pressure, high
cholesterol or diabetes — but who were overweight or obese in
middle age — were at much higher risk of being hospitalized
for heart disease or diabetes or even dying from it in older
age,” said Lijing Yan, lead author of the study by researchers
from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

“Every pound (kg) that you put on really does rob you later
on in life of health, as well as (increases the) chances you’re
going to be hospitalized more, and perhaps even die sooner,”
said fellow researcher Robert Kushner.

The researchers sought to dispel the notion that overweight
people need not worry as long their blood pressure and
cholesterol levels were normal.

The study initially evaluated 17,643 men and women aged 31
to 64, then tracked their health for more than three decades.
They were divided into risk categories based on whether their
blood pressure and cholesterol levels were above or below
certain thresholds, and whether they were smokers.

People who had been obese at midlife but were otherwise
healthy were 43 percent more likely to die from heart disease
and 11 times more likely to die from diabetes after age 65 than
normal-weight people.

Among those at moderate risk who previously had markers for
heart disease like high blood pressure, obesity more than
doubled their risk of dying from the disease compared to
normal-weight people.

Obesity affects about 300 million people worldwide. Based
on a calculation involving height and weight, a body mass index
of 30 or greater is considered obese.