Anna Peeters, from Monash University (Australia), and colleagues have found the number of years individuals live with obesity is directly associated with the risk of mortality. Their research shows that the duration of obesity is a strong predictor of mortality, independent of the actual level of Body Mass Index (BMI). The team found that for those who had a medium number of years lived with obesity (between 5 and 14.9 years), the risk of mortality more than doubled than for those who had never been obese. The risk of mortality almost tripled for those with the longest duration of obesity (more than 15 years). Furthermore, the research showed for every additional two years lived with obesity, the risk of mortality increased by 6-7%.
Duration of Obesity A Strong Predictor of Mortality
Asnawi Abdullah, Rory Wolfe, Johannes U Stoelwinder, Maximilian de Courten, Christopher Stevenson, Helen L Walls, Anna Peeters. “The number of years lived with obesity and the risk of all-cause and cause-specific mortality.” Int. J. Epidemiol., February 27, 2011.
