By Neil Osterweil , MedPage Today Staff Writer
Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Source News Article: ABC News, Forbes, Miami Herald, USA Today
CHICAGO, Jan. 10 – People who are obese in middle age are far more likely to be hospitalized and to die of diabetes and heart disease in old age, even if they are currently free of cardiovascular-disease risk factors.
Researchers here who kept tabs on more than 17,000 men and women — some for nearly 40 years — found that those who were obese in middle age had twice to quadruple the risk of being hospitalized for coronary heart disease in old age than their normal-weight peers, according to a report in the Jan. 11 issue of Journal of the American Medical Association.
“In this predominantly white cohort who survived to age 65 years and older, persons who were overweight, and particularly those who were obese earlier in life (ages 31-64 years), had significantly higher risks of hospitalization and mortality in older age compared with persons of normal weight with similar other cardiovascular risk factors at baseline,” wrote Lijing L. Yan, Ph.D., M.P.H., of Northwestern University here and colleagues in other centers.
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