Obesity is linked with premature death, particularly in men

By Sally Robertson, B.Sc.Jul 14 2016

Being overweight or obese is associated with an increased risk of premature death, according to the largest ever study into obesity and death.

The study, which included information on 3.9 million adults, found that being overweight or obese increased the risk of heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease and cancer, with the risk of premature death (before age 70) being three times greater among men than women.

Lead author of the paper Emanuele Di Angelantonio (University of Cambridge, UK) and colleagues say that second to smoking, obesity is the most significant cause of death in Europe and North America.

On average, overweight people lose about one year of life expectancy, and moderately obese people lose about three years of life expectancy,”

“We also found that men who were obese were at much higher risk of premature death than obese women. This is consistent with previous observations that obese men have greater insulin resistance, liver fat levels, and diabetes risk than women.”

Emanuele Di Angelantonio, University of Cambridge.

The researchers pulled together data on causes of death from 189 previous studies carried out in Europe, North America and other countries across the world. The researchers looked at individuals who were aged between 20 and 90 years, were non-smokers and did not have any known chronic illnesses at the time their body mass index (BMI) was recorded. This was in order to exclude anyone who had lost weight as a result of heavy smoking or very poor health.

The study showed that, overall, the more overweight a person was, the greater the risk of premature death. Where the risk of premature death was 19.0% and 11.0% for men and women respectively, who were a normal weight, this risk increased to 29.5% and 14.6 % for men and women who were moderately obese. This translates as a 10.5% increased risk for men, which is around three times greater than the 3.6% increased risk among women.

This trend was observed for many regions across the world and for all four main causes of death.

Smoking causes about a quarter of all premature deaths in Europe and in North America, and smokers can halve their risk of premature death by stopping. But, overweight and obesity now cause about 1 in 7 of all premature deaths in Europe and 1 in 5 of all premature deaths in North America.”

Co-author Sir Richard Peto, University of Oxford.

The World Health Organization estimates that 1.3 billion adults in the world are overweight and 600 million are obese. The WHO definition of a normal BMI is 18.5 to 25, while overweight is classed as a BMI of 25 to 30, moderate obesity as 30 to 35 and severe obesity as over 40.