Obesity levels may play role in death, disease rates
Willow Belden
Bloomberg News
Jul. 5, 2006 12:00 AM
The question isn't "Are you fat?" but "How fat are you?"
According to a study conducted by the University of Pittsburgh and several other institutions, the more obese a woman is, the more health risks she faces and the likelier she is to die early.
The study examined about 90,000 women to determine how different levels of obesity affect mortality rates and incidence of cardiovascular diseases. Results showed that the most obese women experienced the greatest incidence of mortality, coronary heart disease, diabetes and hypertension.
"Considering obesity as a homogenous condition with fixed risk is inappropriate," the study reported. "Weight-related health risk clearly varies with degree of excess weight."
Researchers divided participants into five weight categories: normal, overweight, Obesity 1, Obesity 2 and extreme obesity, according to body mass index (BMI), which is calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared.
A person 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighing 233 pounds would have a BMI of 40, which is equivalent to extreme obesity, researchers said in the study.
Until recently, it was unclear whether health risks reach a plateau or keep increasing with weight throughout the obese range.
This study found that the risks continue to increase. Eighteen percent more women in the Obesity 1 category died during the study's seven-year follow-up period than did "normal" women; 49 percent more Obesity 2 women died. And the mortality rate amongst extremely obese women was more than double the mortality rate for "normal" women, the study found.
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