Overweight linked to longer life in older adults
5 February 2010
Being overweight in older age does not pose a higher risk of mortality — in fact, it’s associated with the highest chance of survival, Australian researchers have found (J Am Geriatr Soc, online).
A study of more than 9000 Australians aged 70 to 75 years found those who were overweight (based on body mass index — BMI) had a 13 per cent reduced risk of death over a 10-year period compared with their contemporaries who fell in the normal weight range. (BMI is defined as your weight (in kilograms) divided by your height (in metres) squared, i.e. kg/m2. A BMI over 25 kg/m2 is defined as overweight.)
The lowest mortality risk was found in those with a BMI of 26.6 kg/m2 for men and 26.26 kg/m2 for women.
The researchers said the World Health Organization (WHO) needed to review its BMI thresholds for older people, saying they are overly restrictive.
For those at the lower end of normal, the risk of death was double that of overweight subjects and similar to that observed in obese participants.
The authors also found being sedentary presented a greater risk of death among women than men.
Last Reviewed: 05 February 2010
- 1. Flicker L, McCaul KA, Hankey GJ, et al. Body mass index and survival in men and women aged 70 to 75. J Am Geriatr Soc 2010; 58(2): 234-41. Available at: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/123265340/HTMLSTART
