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Body Mass Index at Age 25 and All-Cause Mortality in Whites and African Americans: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study
Journal of Adolescent Health, 08/25/2011
Stevens J et al. – Excess weight during young adulthood should be avoided because it contributes to increases in death rates that may be independent of changes in weight experienced in later life.
Methods- The authors used data from 13,941 African-American and white adults who self-reported their weight at the age of 25, and had weight and height measured when they were 45–64 years of age (1987–1989).
- Date of death was ascertained between 1987 and 2005.
- Hazard ratios and hazard differences for the effects of BMI at age 25 on all-cause mortality were determined using Cox proportional hazard and additive hazard models, respectively.
- In the combined ethnic–gender groups, the hazard ratio associated with a 5 kg/m2 increase in BMI at age 25 was 1.28 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.22–1.35), and the hazard difference was 2.75 (2.01–3.50) deaths/1,000 person-years.
- Associations were observed in all four ethnic–gender groups.
- Models including weight change from age 25 to age in 1987–1989 resulted in null estimates for BMI in African-American men, whereas associations were maintained or only mildly attenuated in other ethnic–gender groups.