Slowing gains in death rates and life expectancy in the United States could be partially explained by the rising prevalence of obesity, a study suggests. Recent studies have documented a reduction in the rate of mortality improvement in the United States, as well as an increasing mortality disadvantage in the United States relative to other wealthy countries. Samuel Preston and colleagues assessed the extent to which this trend could be explained by rising body mass index. The authors applied a statistical model to nationally representative data obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1988 to 2010, as well as linked mortality files that included follow-up into death records through 2011. The final sample consisted of 25,269 adults aged 40 to 84. Over this time period, the rise in maximum lifetime body mass index in this population was associated with reduced annual rate of improvement in death rates by 0.54%. Moreover, the increase in maximum lifetime body mass index over this time period was tied to reduced life expectancy at age 40 by 0.9 years in 2011, and to 186,000 excess deaths in adults aged 40 to 84 that year alone. According to the authors, rising obesity may have prevented individuals in the United States from enjoying the full benefits of reductions in smoking, medical advances, and other factors that have reduced mortality rates in recent decades.
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Article #17-16802: "The role of obesity in exceptionally slow US mortality improvement" by Samuel H. Preston, Yana C. Vierboom, and Andrew Stokes.
MEDIA CONTACT: Samuel Preston, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; tel: 610-585-3731; e-mail: <spreston@upenn.edu>
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences