Older patients with diabetes who are obese may have lower risk of premature death

Among older patients with diabetes, those who are overweight or obese may have a lower risk of dying prematurely than their normal weight counterparts. The finding comes from a recent analysis of published studies.

In the Journal of Diabetes Investigation analysis of 20 studies with 250,016 patients with diabetes, overweight patients had an 18% reduced risk of early death compared with normal weight patients; however, the survival benefits were only observed in older patients and not in younger patients. Furthermore, the beneficial impacts lessened over time.