Being overweight as defined by the body mass index rating scale is not linked to an increase in death when considered separately from other health issues,Also known as BMI, the calculation measures a person’s body fat based on height and weight. As currently used, the BMI scale divides adult populations into various degrees of body fat.
“The use of the word ‘overweight’ is misleading here, as it excludes anyone with a BMI above 30. In lay language ‘overweight’ would usually be interpreted as anyone with a weight above ‘normal’ and would include obese patients,” said Dr. Baptiste Leurent, a lecturer in medical statistics at University College London, in a statement.
Visaria and his coauthor, Dr. Soko Setoguchi, a professor of medicine and epidemiology at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Rutgers School of Public Health, then compared BMI levels with deaths that occurred over the next 20 years. “We know that BMI often displays a U shaped curve with mortality, but this is due to many people at lower end of the BMI range having unintentional weight loss due to illness,” Sattar said in a statement.
“The main hazard of overweight and moderate obesity is a three times greater risk of developing diabetes which contributes to cardiovascular disease, renal failure and blindness,” he said in a statement. It’s also possible, said Shmerling, that people in the overweight category visit the doctor more often, make lifestyle changes — such as increasing exercise or adopting a healthier diet — and get medical care so they don’t develop diabetes, heart disease or other comorbidities.
Measuring waist circumference should be paired with stepping on a scale as part of any health assessment, according to guidelines published in April 2021 by the American Heart Association. Abdominal obesity, as it is known, is defined as a waist circumference of 40 inches or above for men, and 35 inches or above for women.