Obesity in 20s Leads Men To Middle Age Death
A Danish study published on Monday gives some interesting statistics on the long-term mortality risk of being obese in early adult years.
The study followed 6,500 men, all born in 1955, from the time they were 22 until they were 55 years old. The Military Board in the country had registered all of their metrics, including weight and height, to assess their fitness for service in the military.
The results published in BJM Open found that at age 22, 83 percent of men were within normal range, 10 percent were overweight, 5 percent were underweight and 1.5 percent were obese.
When researchers looked at how the men were doing at age 55, they found that among those that were categorized as obese at the age of 22 close to half had been diagnosed with diabetes, high blood pressure, having had a heart attack, stroke, blood clots, or had died before the study period ended.
The men who were obese were at more than eight times higher risk for being diagnosed as diabetic and more than four times as likely to die from a blood clot. Young obese men were also more than twice as likely to have high blood pressure or have suffered a heart attack and died by the time they were 55 than their thinner comrades.
"Obesity-related morbidity and mortality will, in decades to come, place an unprecedented burden on healthcare systems worldwide," the researchers said.
By comparing body mass index (BMI) with the statistics, researchers found that for every increase on a single digit of BMI resulted in a 5 percent increase in heart attack risk, a 10 percent increase for high blood pressure and blood clots and a 20 percent increase in risk for diabetes.
"Compared with those of normal weight, young obese men had an absolute risk increase for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular morbidity or premature death of almost 30 percent," the researchers concluded.
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