excess body weight

Life expectancy, healthy years likely to diminish with obesity-related diabetes, CVD

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Obesity could reduce life expectancy by up to 8 years and healthy years of life by up to 19 years due to the effects oftype 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, according to research published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

“Not only is excess body weight associated with a significant reduction in life expectancy but an even greater reduction in healthy life-years,” Steven A. Grover, MD, of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, told Endocrine Today. “Living without [CVD] or diabetes is something worth working toward.”

Steven Grover

Steven A. Grover

Grover and colleagues developed and validated a disease-simulation model to determine the years of life and healthy life-years lost due to diabetes and CVDassociated with excess body weight. The model estimated annual risk for diabetes, CVD and mortality in three categories of BMI — 25 kg/m2 to <30 kg/m² (overweight); 30 kg/m2 to <35 kg/m² (obese); ≥35 kg/m² (very obese) — compared with an ideal BMI of 18.5 kg/m2 to <25 kg/m².

The researchers used data from 3,992 non-Hispanic white participants involved in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2003-2010) with available complete risk factor data and fasting glucose concentrations.

Excess body weight was positively linked to risk factors for CVD and type 2 diabetes. The effect of excess weight on years of life lost was most pronounced for young adults and diminished with increasing age.

“While losing weight or exercising regularly is not easy for many of us, the potential benefits are huge,” Grover said. “A modest reduction in weight of approximately 10 lb and as little as 30 minutes of daily physical activity most days of the week have been proven to reduce the risk of developing diabetes by as much as 60%. The potential benefits in preventing a heart attack or stroke are also substantial.”

For men with obesity, the years of life lost ranged from 0.8 in those aged 60 to 79 years (95% CI, 0.2-1.4) to 5.9 years in those aged 20 to 39 years (95% CI, 4.4-7.4). For very obese men, years lost ranged from 0.9 in those aged 60 to 79 years (95% CI, 0-1.8) to 8.4 years in those aged 20 to 39 years (95% CI; 7-9.8). Smaller, and sometimes negligible, losses were seen in men with overweight.

Women in the very obese category showed similar results, with 6.1 years lost for those aged 20 to 39 years (95% CI, 4.6-7.6) and 0.9 years lost for those aged 60 to 79 years (95% CI, 0.1-1.7).

Healthy life-years lost overall were two to four times greater than years of life lost across all age groups and body weight categories. Young adults who were very obese, again, showed a greater reduction in healthy-life years, with men losing 18.8 years (95% CI, 16.8-20.8) and women 19.1 years (95% CI, 16.7-21.5).

“Appreciating the impact excess pounds have on our life expectancy and healthy years of life will hopefully provide health professionals with a new diagnostic measurement to motivate some individuals to make healthy changes to their lifestyle,” Grover said.

An attached commentary by Edward Gregg, PhD, of the division of diabetes translation at the CDC, underscored the researchers’ call for “meaningful metrics for education, counseling and health promotion” and noted that clinical utility of the estimates and their ability to distinguish the effects of small differences between obesity thresholds requires additional work.

Edward Gregg

Edward Gregg

However, Gregg called the efforts to refine estimation of the lifelong effect of obesity and diabetes important, with populations poised to live longer with chronic diseases and have diverse responses to interventions.

“This heterogeneity might place a higher premium on decision-making methods that can simultaneously take a life course perspective, incorporate interventions, and consider individual differences,” Gregg wrote, “so that clinicians and public health leaders alike can effectively tackle the next phases of the obesity and diabetes epidemics.” – by Allegra Tiver

Life expectancy, healthy years likely to diminish with obesity-related diabetes, CVD

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Obesity could reduce life expectancy by up to 8 years and healthy years of life by up to 19 years due to the effects oftype 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, according to research published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

“Not only is excess body weight associated with a significant reduction in life expectancy but an even greater reduction in healthy life-years,” Steven A. Grover, MD, of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, told Endocrine Today. “Living without [CVD] or diabetes is something worth working toward.”

Steven Grover

Steven A. Grover

Grover and colleagues developed and validated a disease-simulation model to determine the years of life and healthy life-years lost due to diabetes and CVDassociated with excess body weight. The model estimated annual risk for diabetes, CVD and mortality in three categories of BMI — 25 kg/m2 to <30 kg/m² (overweight); 30 kg/m2 to <35 kg/m² (obese); ≥35 kg/m² (very obese) — compared with an ideal BMI of 18.5 kg/m2 to <25 kg/m².

The researchers used data from 3,992 non-Hispanic white participants involved in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2003-2010) with available complete risk factor data and fasting glucose concentrations.

Excess body weight was positively linked to risk factors for CVD and type 2 diabetes. The effect of excess weight on years of life lost was most pronounced for young adults and diminished with increasing age.

“While losing weight or exercising regularly is not easy for many of us, the potential benefits are huge,” Grover said. “A modest reduction in weight of approximately 10 lb and as little as 30 minutes of daily physical activity most days of the week have been proven to reduce the risk of developing diabetes by as much as 60%. The potential benefits in preventing a heart attack or stroke are also substantial.”

For men with obesity, the years of life lost ranged from 0.8 in those aged 60 to 79 years (95% CI, 0.2-1.4) to 5.9 years in those aged 20 to 39 years (95% CI, 4.4-7.4). For very obese men, years lost ranged from 0.9 in those aged 60 to 79 years (95% CI, 0-1.8) to 8.4 years in those aged 20 to 39 years (95% CI; 7-9.8). Smaller, and sometimes negligible, losses were seen in men with overweight.

Women in the very obese category showed similar results, with 6.1 years lost for those aged 20 to 39 years (95% CI, 4.6-7.6) and 0.9 years lost for those aged 60 to 79 years (95% CI, 0.1-1.7).

Healthy life-years lost overall were two to four times greater than years of life lost across all age groups and body weight categories. Young adults who were very obese, again, showed a greater reduction in healthy-life years, with men losing 18.8 years (95% CI, 16.8-20.8) and women 19.1 years (95% CI, 16.7-21.5).

“Appreciating the impact excess pounds have on our life expectancy and healthy years of life will hopefully provide health professionals with a new diagnostic measurement to motivate some individuals to make healthy changes to their lifestyle,” Grover said.

An attached commentary by Edward Gregg, PhD, of the division of diabetes translation at the CDC, underscored the researchers’ call for “meaningful metrics for education, counseling and health promotion” and noted that clinical utility of the estimates and their ability to distinguish the effects of small differences between obesity thresholds requires additional work.

Edward Gregg

Edward Gregg

However, Gregg called the efforts to refine estimation of the lifelong effect of obesity and diabetes important, with populations poised to live longer with chronic diseases and have diverse responses to interventions.

“This heterogeneity might place a higher premium on decision-making methods that can simultaneously take a life course perspective, incorporate interventions, and consider individual differences,” Gregg wrote, “so that clinicians and public health leaders alike can effectively tackle the next phases of the obesity and diabetes epidemics.” – by Allegra Tiver

Obesity Cuts Up To 8 Years Off Of Life, Reports New Computer Program That Predicts Life Expectancy

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Obesity Cuts Years Off A Life

The amount of years a person loses to obesity can be calculated with new computer program. Photo courtesy of 

The obesity epidemic is one of the greatest threats to the world’s physical, mental, emotional, and financial health, and inevitably years off an individual’s life. Research examined how obesity is linked to excess body weight and have designed a computer program to calculate how many years it shaves off your life. The study, which was published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, warned obesity has the potential to cut up to eight years off a life.

Researchers from the University of Calgary and the University of British Columbia collaborated to develop a computer program to help both doctors and their patients to better understand how excess body weight will reduce their life expectancy and premature development of type 2 diabetes and heart disease. “These clinically meaningful models are useful for patients, and their healthcare professionals, to better appreciate the issues and the benefits of a healthier lifestyle, which we know is difficult for many of us to adopt and maintain,” the study’s lead author Dr. Steven Grover, a Clinical Epidemiologist at the RI-MUHC and a Professor of Medicine at McGill University, said in a press release.

Grover and his research team used the data from collected from 2003 to 2010 in order to create a model for estimating diabetes and cardiovascular risk for individuals with different body types. After combing through health history from nearly 4,000 individuals, they found a distinct morbidity pattern. Those who were at the high end of obesity lost up to eight years, while obese individuals will lose up to six. Overweight people aren’t out of the clear either, they could be cutting three years off their lives from unhealthy habits.

Nine years ago, a study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, that first explored this question in obese children. Researchers calculated American lives would shorten if their children continued growing up to become obese adults, and now the results are in. Although the U.S. lifespan has been steadily increasing, it has notably slowed in the last 30 years. Coincidentally in the same span of time, rates of childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than a third of the adult population is obese, and the slew of diseases that come along with a life of obesity are frighteningly life threatening.

“The pattern is clear – the more an individual weighs and the younger their age, the greater the effect on their health,” Grover said. “In terms of life-expectancy, we feel being overweight is as bad as cigarette smoking. What may be interesting for patients are the ‘what if?’ questions. What if they lose 10 to 15 pounds? Or, what if they are more active? How will this change the numbers?”

There’s hope the computer program will serve as a deterrent for obese people or those who are overweight and gaining. Moving forward, the research team is extending their research into a three year study throughout Canada to see how patients respond to hearing their life expectancy loss. In addition, they’ll provide a web-based health program to help overweight and obese individuals adapt healthy diet and regular physical activity regimens.