The relationship between multimorbidity, obesity and functional impairment in older adults
Open accessAbstract
Background: Declining mortality rates and an aging population have contributed to increasing rates of multimorbidity (MM) in the United States. MM is strongly associated with a decline in physical function. Obesity is an important risk factor for the development of MM, and its prevalence continues to rise. Our study aimed to evaluate the associations between obesity, MM, and rates of functional limitations in older adults. Methods: We analyzed body mass index (BMI) and self‐reported comorbidity data from 7261 individuals aged ≥60 years from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys 2005–2014. Weight status was defined based on standard BMI categories. MM was defined as 2 or more comorbidities, while functional limitations were self‐reported. Adjusted logistic regression quantified the association between standard BMI categories and MM. We also examined the difference in the prevalence of limitations between those with and without MM. Results: The overall proportion of individuals with concomitant MM and obesity was 27.0%. Compared to a normal BMI, older adults with obesity had higher odds of MM (Prevalence odds ratio 1.79, 95% CI 1.49, 2.12). Overall, 67.5% of patients with MM also reported a functional limitation, with rates of functional limitation increasing with increasing BMI. When evaluating functional limitations in those with MM by BMI class, 90% of patients classified as severely obese (BMI ≥40 kg/m 2 ) with MM also had a concomitant functional limitation. Conclusions: Compared to normal weight status, obesity is associated with an increased burden of MM and functional limitation among older adults. Our results underscore the importance of identifying and addressing obesity, MM, and functional limitation patterns and the need for evidence‐based interventions that address all three conditions in this population.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Obesity often leads to musculoskeletal injury and functional impairment.
“Obesity often leads to musculoskeletal injury [318] and functional impairment [319].”
From Lifestyle Medicine for Obesity in the Era of Highly Effective Anti-Obesity Treatment (2025) · cites this paper as [319]
Citation [319] supports the functional-impairment part of the sentence, not musculoskeletal injury, which has a separate citation. The Discussion (page not provided) reports that obesity is associated with higher rates of functional impairment in older adults, but it does not establish that obesity causes it, as “leads to” implies. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSarcopenic obesity is particularly prevalent among older adults and people with chronic diseases such as T2D, CKD, and cardiovascular disease, and is associated with increased risks of frailty, falls, disability, hospitalization, and mortality.
“It is particularly prevalent among older adults and people with chronic diseases such as T2D, CKD, and cardiovascular disease, and is associated with increased risks of frailty, falls, disability, hospitalization, and mortality [117].”
From Precision obesity medicine: A phenotype-guided framework for pharmacologic therapy across the lifespan (2025) · cites this paper as [117]
Split into 2 atoms — 0 confirmed, 0 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 2 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 20 · Cited by 59
Research works printed but not linked: 4
- [12]Lebenbaum M, Zaric GS, Thind A, Sarma S. Trends in obesity and multimorbidity in Canada. Preventive Medicine. 2018; 116: 173– 179. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2018.08.025 30194961 · DOI
- [16]King DE, Xiang J, Pilkerton CS. Multimorbidity trends in United States adults, 1988–2014. Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine. 2018; 31(4): 503– 513. doi: 10.3122/jabfm.2018.04.180008 29986975 PMC6368177 · DOI
- [22]Pollack LM, Wang M, Leung MYM, Colditz G, Herrick C, Chang SH. Obesity-related multimorbidity and risk of cardiovascular disease in the middle-aged population in the United States. Preventive Medicine. 2020; 139. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2020.106225 PMC8008707 32768511 · DOI
- [27]Calderón-Larrañaga A, Vetrano DL, Ferrucci L, Multimorbidity and functional impairment–bidirectional interplay, synergistic effects and common pathways. Journal of Internal Medicine. 2019; 285(3): 255– 271. doi: 10.1111/joim.12843 30357990 PMC6446236 · DOI
- Authors
- Lynch, D. H., Petersen, C. L., Fanous, M. M., Spangler, H. B., Kahkoska, A. R., Jimenez, D., & Batsis, J. A.
- Affiliations
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- Dartmouth College (US)
- University of Miami (US)
- Corresponding author
- Lynch, David H.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2022-02-03
- Volume
- 70
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 1442-1449
- ISSN
- 0002-8614 (ISSN-L)
- 1532-5415
- PMC
- PMC9106850
- OpenAlex
- W4210686074
- Cited by
- 59
- References
- 20
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 6
- FWCI
- 7.76
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (KL2TR002490)
- National Institute on Aging (K23 AG051681)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Chronic Disease Management Strategies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Nutrition and Health in Aging
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Keywords
- multimorbidity, obesity, functional limitations, older adults, body mass index, physical function, morbid obesity, comorbidity burden
- MeSH terms
- Multimorbidity, Aged, Aging, Humans, Obesity, United States, Comorbidity, Body Mass Index
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
