Overweight Women Reduce Their Life Expectancy
Compared with lean women, obese women had a 79% lower odds of healthy survival pass the age of 70. Healthy survival essentially means being free of the most common 11 chronic diseases and being able to carry out daily activities normally. The more weight that women gained from the age of 18 until mid-life, the less likely was healthy survival after the age of 70.
The researchers concluded that having an unhealthy weight in mid-life is strongly related to a reduced probability of healthy survival among women who live to older ages. The researchers also stressed that it was absolutely essential to maintain a healthy weight from early adulthood.
The Study
This was the result of a study conducted on 17,000 nurses in the US from 1976 to 2000 in the Nurse’s Health Study. The nurses were aged between 30 and 55. All women were healthy when the study started. The nurses were monitored for their weight and health for every 2 years up to the year 2000. these findings were published in the British Medical Journal in September.
Definition of Healthy Survival
Healthy survivors were participants who survived to age 70 or older and as of age 70 were free from 11 major chronic diseases. These diseases included
- cancer
- diabetes
- heart attacks
- bypass surgery
- congestive heart failure
- stroke
- kidney failure
- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- Parkinson’s disease
- multiple sclerosis
- lateral sclerosis
The healthy survivors must also have had no major impairment of cognitive function. They must also not have had any major limitation of physical functions. They should have been able to carry out moderate activities such as vacuuming, climbing up a flight of stairs, bathing and walking up to a mile. They were also expected to be in good mental health.
The BMI Scale
Being overweight was assessed using the BMI scale. The scale goes as follows;
- BMI 19 – 25 : Healthy Weight
- BMI 25 – 30 : Overweight
- BMI 30 and above : Obese
Consequences of Gaining Weight in Mid Life
The researchers found that for every 1 point increase of BMI above the healthy level, reduced the chances of a women of healthy survival up to the age of 70 by 12%. Every 1 kg that was gained since the age of 18 reduced the odds of surviving past the age of 70 by 5%. Women who were already overweight at the age of 18 and then gained 10kgs late ron in life had a 20% survival rate past the age of 70.
Tags: British Medical Journal, overweight, weight gain, healthy survival, BMI, mid life weight gain, Nurse’s Health Study
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