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Cited by 188Nutrition and Health in AgingObesity, Physical Activity, DietCancer Risks and Factors

Body mass index and all-cause mortality among people age 70 and over: the Longitudinal Study of Aging

Allison, DB, Gallagher, D, Heo, M, Pi-Sunyer, FX, Heymsfield, SB·1997·International Journal of Obesity
DOI 10.1038/sj.ijo.0800423
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Abstract

Objectives To assess the relationship between body mass index (BMI; kg/m2) and mortality in a large nationally representative sample of US adults over age 70 years.Design Prospective longitudinal cohort study, the Longitudinal Study of Aging (LSOA). Subjects were all those 7260 black and white people (2769 men, 4491 women) initially interviewed in 1984 for whom height and weight were available. These subjects were followed through to 1990.Measurements Measurements included self-reported height and weight, date of death if subjects died, sex, age, race, measures of socio-economic status, number of living first degree relatives, and responses to questions asking whether the subject had retired due to poor health, had difficulty eating, worried about their health, and felt their health was worse than during the prior year. Smoking status was not assessed.Results When analyzed via Cox proportional hazard regression, the relationship between BMI and mortality, represented by means of hazard ratio, was clearly U-shaped for both men and women. The base of the curves was fairly wide suggesting that a broad range of BMIs are well tolerated by older adults. The minimum mortality (estimated from the fitted proportional hazard models) occurred at a BMI of approximately 31.7 for women and 28.8 for men. The results were essentially unchanged, if analyses were weighted, if various disease states were controlled for, and if apparently unhealthy subjects were excluded.Conclusions The finding of the relatively high BMI (27-30 for men, 30-35 for women) associated with minimum hazard in persons older than seventy years supports some previously documented findings and opposes others and, if confirmed in future research, has implications for public health and clinical recommendations.

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  • Use of FFMI and FMI permits comparison of subjects of different heights.

    “The use of the fatfree mass index (FFMI) and fat mass index (FMI), similarly to BMI (weight/height 2 , kg m 22 ), permits comparison of subjects of different heights 13 .”

    From Overweight and obesity in a Swiss city: 10-year trends (2007) · cites this paper as [13]

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Authors
Allison, D., Gallagher, D., Heo, M., Pi-Sunyer, F., & Heymsfield, S.
Affiliations
St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center (US)
ORCID
Venue
International Journal of Obesity
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
1997-06
Volume
21
Issue
6
Pages
424-431
ISSN
  • 0307-0565 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-5497
DOI
10.1038/sj.ijo.0800423
OpenAlex
W1965659650
Cited by
188
References
25
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 7
FWCI
4.69
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
Locations
  • International Journal of Obesity (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (5r01dk051716-03, 5r29dk047256-05)
  • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (R29DK47256-01A1, R01-DK-51716, P30 DK-26687, P30DK026687)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Nutrition and Health in Aging
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer Risks and Factors
Keywords
body mass index, all-cause mortality, older adults, U-shaped relationship, obesity paradox, Longitudinal Study of Aging, sex differences, racial differences
MeSH terms
Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Cause of Death, Female, Health Status, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Mortality, Regression Analysis, Body Mass Index

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