Height, body mass index and mortality: Do social factors explain the association?

Allebeck, Peter; Bergh, Cecilia Fahlén

doi:10.1016/s0033-3506(05)80186-6

Cited by 90 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…The graphical depiction of these relationships has been called "Waaler curves," an analytical instrument that has served to indicate optimal anthropometrics from a health standpoint. 6 Several follow-up studies have further supported Waaler's findings and support the U-shape relationship between BMI and mortality for other populations in different regions and historical periods (Fogel, 1993;Kim, 1996;Allison and Faith, 1996;Allebeck and Bergh, 1992;Engeland et al, 2003;Song et al, 2003;Strandberg, 1997). The proposed weight-to-height minimum risks vary according to age, race, gender, disease history and behavioral factors such as smoking.…”

Section: Overweight Adultsmentioning

confidence: 77%

The bigger the healthier: Are the limits of BMI risk changing over time?

Henderson

2005

Economics & Human Biology

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The body mass index (BMI) is often used as a predictor of overweight and obesity. There is, however, an important debate among international specialists as to what the risk limits should be, and where the cut-off points should be located. In the United States, for instance, adults with a BMI between 25 and 30 are considered overweight, while adults with a BMI of 30 or higher are considered obese. Nevertheless some researchers, especially in developing countries, claim that the limits established for the US are too permissive, and that the threshold to define obese adults should be set lower for other nationalities and ethnicities. This paper analyzes the mortality risks for different BMI levels of two populations of American adult men. The first population lived during the last quarter of the 19th century and the early 20th century. These men were drawn from a random sample of Union Army veterans who fought during the American Civil War (1861-1865). A contemporary sample of men was drawn from the first wave of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I) conducted between 1971 and 1975. The results indicate that the frontier of overweight and obesity are expanding over time, such that the potential risk is nowadays associated with higher levels of BMI. The finding may imply that differences in BMI cut-off points are not only cross ethnic, but also occur for similar ethnicities across time.

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Section: Overweight Adultsmentioning

confidence: 77%

The bigger the healthier: Are the limits of BMI risk changing over time?

Henderson

2005

Economics & Human Biology

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“…This subject has been studied for decades in the general population, where greater height has often been associated with reduced all-cause mortality (4-7), cardiovascular mortality (4)(5)(6)(7)(8), and mortality due to other causes not related to cancer (4,5,7). However, several well designed studies of the general population report no association between height and these outcomes after adjustment for age and/or proxies of socioeconomic status (9)(10)(11).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Association of Height with Mortality in Patients Undergoing Maintenance Hemodialysis

Shapiro

Streja

Ravel

et al. 2015

Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology

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Background and objectives Body mass index (BMI), determined as kilograms in body weight divided by the square of the height in meters (m 2 ), is inversely associated with mortality in patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis (MHD). It is commonly inferred that differences in the weight component of the BMI equation are responsible for this negative correlation. However, there are almost no data on the relationship between height and mortality in these patients. This study was conducted to examine the association between height and mortality in MHD patients and to evaluate the contribution of height to the BMI-mortality relationship. , and median follow-up was 852 days (interquartile range, 504-1367 days). Mortality hazard ratios were computed within sexstandardized deciles of height and weight, and outcomes included all-cause mortality and cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, cancer, and infection mortality. Hazard models were unadjusted, adjusted for case-mix variables, or adjusted for case-mix variables plus laboratory variables.Results Mean age was 61615 years; 45% of patients were women and 57% had diabetes. In adjusted models, height, also adjusted for weight, was directly associated with all-cause mortality and cardiovascular, infection, and cancer mortality. Compared with the median height decile, mortality risk in the highest height decile was 1.18 (95% confidence interval, 1.14 to 1.23) in fully adjusted analyses (P,0.001). Receiver-operating characteristic curves indicated that in adjusted analyses the contribution of height to the relationship between BMI and mortality was almost identical to that of weight.Conclusions In MHD patients, height is positively associated with mortality risk and contributes similarly to weight with regard to the negative BMI-mortality relationship.

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“…However, height alone has been associated with several outcomes and all-cause mortality 4 . Particularly in terms of respiratory and coronary heart disease, shorter subjects are more likely to die prematurely than taller ones 5,6 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%