Study: Being overweight, obese not linked to higher death risk | News

DAVIS, CA - A study conducted by UC Davis researchers suggests that being overweight or obese is not linked to higher morbidity over the short term.

And while severe obesity in combination with diabetes or high blood pressure does increase the risk of death, researchers noted when those with hypertension and diabetes were factored out of the data, overweight and obese people died at similar or even lower rates than those of normal weight.

The results were based on national health surveys from nearly 51,000 adults from the age of 18 to 90 who were followed for six years.

Prof. Anthony Jerant, lead author of the study, suggested doctors may have become more aware of conditions such as high blood sugar, high blood pressure and high cholesterol often associated with being overweight and obese and "are more aggressive about early detection and treatment of these conditions."

Jerant also cautioned the findings should not applied to any link between being overweight and the risk of death over the long term.

The researchers used Body Mass Index (BMI) or weight adjusted for height standards of underweight (BMI less than 20), normal weight (BMI 20 to less than 25), overweight (BMI 25 ro less than 30)), obese )BMI 30 to 35) and severely obese (BMI greater than 35).

See full study pdf accompanying this story.