BMI and Chronic Disease

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Another BMI study :

" Impact of Overweight on the Risk of Developing Common Chronic Diseases

During a 10-Year Period

Alison E. Field, ScD; Eugenie H. Coakley; Aviva Must, PhD;

L. Spadano, MA; Nan Laird, PhD; H. Dietz, MD, PhD; Rimm,

ScD; Graham A. Colditz, MD, DrPH

Background: Overweight adults are at an increased risk of developing

numerous chronic diseases.

Methods: Ten-year follow-up (1986-1996) of middle-aged women in the

Nurses' Health Study and men in the Health Professionals Follow-up

Study to assess the health risks associated with overweight.

Results The risk of developing diabetes, gallstones, hypertension,

heart disease, and stroke increased with severity of overweight among

both women and men. Compared with their same-sex peers with a body

mass index (BMI) (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the

square of height in meters) between 18.5 and 24.9, those with BMI of

35.0 or more were approximately 20 times more likely to develop

diabetes (relative risk [RR], 17.0; 95% confidence interval [CI],

14.2-20.5 for women; RR, 23.4; 95% CI, 19.4-33.2 for men). Women who

were overweight but not obese (ie, BMI between 25.0 and 29.9) were

also significantly more likely than their leaner peers to develop

gallstones (RR, 1.9), hypertension (RR, 1.7), high cholesterol level

(RR, 1.1), and heart disease (RR, 1.4). The results were similar in

men.

Conclusions: During 10 years of follow-up, the incidence of diabetes,

gallstones, hypertension, heart disease, colon cancer, and stroke (men

only) increased with degree of overweight in both men and women.

Adults who were overweight but not obese (ie, 25.0BMI29.9) were at

significantly increased risk of developing numerous health conditions.

Moreover, the dose-response relationship between BMI and the risk of

developing chronic diseases was evident even among adults in the upper

half of the healthy weight range (ie, BMI of 22.0-24.9), suggesting

that adults should try to maintain a BMI between 18.5 and 21.9 to

minimize their risk of disease.

Arch Intern Med. 2001;161:1581-1586