New study reveals obese diabetics outlive thinner one
09 Aug 2012
A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has revealed that overweight or obese diabetics live longer than those with normal weight.
The study was undertaken by researchers led by Mercedes Carnethon, associate professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University, to test the association of weight status with mortality in adults with new-onset diabetes in order to minimise the influence of diabetes duration and voluntary weight loss on mortality.
The researchers concluded that adults who were of normal weight at the time of incident diabetes had higher mortality than adults who were overweight or obese.
The findings revealed that the proportion of adults who were normal weight at the time of incident diabetes ranged from 9 per cent to 21 per cent (overall 12 per cent). During follow-up, 449 participants died: 178 from cardiovascular causes and 253 from non-cardiovascular causes (18 were not classified).
The rates of total, cardiovascular, and non-cardiovascular mortality were higher in normal-weight participants (284.8, 99.8, and 198.1 per 10 000 person-years, respectively) than in overweight/obese participants (152.1, 67.8, and 87.9 per 10 000 person-years, respectively).
After adjustment for demographic characteristics and blood pressure, lipid levels, waist circumference, and smoking status, hazard ratios comparing normal-weight participants with overweight/obese participants for total, cardiovascular, and non-cardiovascular mortality were 2.08. 1.52 and 2.32, respectively, said the report.
