X-Message-Number: 24546 Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2004 05:19:53 -0700 (PDT) From: Doug Skrecky <> Subject: BMI & survival over 70 years Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2004;13(Suppl):S137 Body mass index is not a significant predictor of survival amongst older people. Introduction: As the population ages, more attention for emergent problems of health and disease in the elderly is needed. The International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS) subcommittee on Nutrition and Ageing, in conjunction with the World Health Organization (WHO) global program for the elderly, embarked on the 'Food Habits in Later Life' (FHILL): a cross-cultural study to test key hypotheses in relation to food habits, health status and social variables in the elderly in 1987. That obesity is associated with increased morbidity and mortality requires specific consideration with advancing years. Objective: To investigate whether the so-called a healthy BMI (a widely used and simple tool to measure body fatness), between 20-25 kg/m2, predicts 7-year survival amongst elderly (aged 70 years and over) from long-lived cultures namely Japanese in Japan, Swedes in Sweden, Anglo-Celtics in Australia, and Greeks in Greece and Australia. Methods: Baseline data of height and weight were used to calculate BMI from FHILL study participants (n=785). BMI was classified as low (BMI<20), healthy (20< or =BMI<25), overweight (25 <or=(BMI>or=30), and obesity (BMI(30). Healthy BMI was used as a reference point. All cause mortality from up to seven years follow-up was used as study endpoint. Each Cox Proportional Hazard model was adjusted to age at enrolment (in 5-year intervals), gender, smoking and general health status and was developed to analyse the survival data. Results: Having a low BMI or being underweight/undernutrition (RR 1.45: 95% CI 0.85-2.58), being overweight (RR 1.16; 95% CI 0.75-1.78), or being obese (RR 0.97: 95% CI 0.55-1.74) did not significantly reduce or increase mortality as opposed to being in a healthy BMI group in the FHILL population. Conclusions: The FHILL study shows that mortality advantage conferred by having healthy BMI was not evident amongst elderly from longevity cultures. Body fatness, following adjustment for age at enrolment, gender, smoking, and general health status, was not found to be a significant predictor of 7-year survival. Further research may provide better understanding of the relation between optimal BMI and survival amongst older people. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=24546