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Longer life spans unlikely for obese adolescents
Life expectancy is on the rise for much of the population, but adults who were overweight or obese as adolescents have not benefited from these improvements, according to recently released data.
“Public health officials have known all along that obesity contributes to chronic illness, but this study clearly illustrates that it can raise the risk of death in early adulthood,” Amir Tirosh, MD, PhD, of the division of endocrinology, diabetes and hypertension at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, said in a press release. “This has enormous implications for families, public health and society as a whole.”
In a nationwide longitudinal cohort study, researchers analyzed records for more than 2.1 million adolescents (mean age, 17 years) who were evaluated for compulsory military service in Israel to discover the relationship between BMI at adolescence and mortality rate, as well as observe mortality trends. The participants were born between 1950 and 1993, and 59.1% were males.
The participants’ height and weight were measured, and BMI was stratified based on the CDC-established percentiles for age and sex. Researchers combed death records to find mortality rates among the study population.
Over 4 decades, a decrease in mortality rates was seen in normal-weight participants born between 1970 and 1980 vs. those born between 1950 and 1960 (3.6/10,000 person-years vs. 4.99/10,000 person-years, P<.001). No improvement in survival rate was observed among adolescents who were overweight and obese during the same interval. A significant association between BMI and birth year was also observed (P=.007).
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.