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Differential associations of body mass index and adiposity with all-cause mortality among men in the first and second National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES I and NHANES II) follow-up studies

International Journal of Obesity volume 26, pages 410–416 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The frequently observed U-shaped relationship between body mass index (BMI; kg/m2) and mortality rate may be due to the opposing effects of fat mass (FM) and fat-free mass (FFM) components of BMI on mortality rate. The purpose is to test the hypothesis stated above.

DESIGN: Longitudinal prospective cohort studies. The mortality follow-up of the first and second National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES I and NHANES II).

SUBJECTS: A total of 10 169 male subjects aged 25–75 who participated in NHANES I and II were selected for analyses. Follow-up continued until 1992. The mean follow-up time was 14.6 y for NHANES I and 12.9 y for NHANES II. Ninety-eight percent of the participants were successfully followed representing a total of 3722 deaths.

MEASUREMENTS: Subscapular and triceps skinfolds thickness were used as FM indicators, whereas upper arm circumference was used as a FFM indicator. The Cox proportional hazards model tested the relationships of BMI, FM and FFM with all-cause mortality adjusting for age, smoking status, race and education levels.

RESULTS: BMI had a U-shaped relationship with mortality, with a nadir of approximately 27 kg/m2. However, when indicators of FM and FFM were added to the model, the relationship between BMI and mortality became more nearly monotonic increasing. Moreover, the relationship between FM indicator and mortality was monotonic increasing and the relationship between FFM indicator and mortality was monotonic decreasing.

CONCLUSION: These results support the hypothesis that the apparently deleterious effects of marked thinness may be due to low FFM and that, over the observed range of the data, marked leanness (as opposed to thinness) has beneficial effects.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to David F Williamson for his helpful comments. This research was supported in part by NIH grants AG17166, DK51716 and DK26687, and unrestricted grants from Merck Pharmaceuticals, Tanita Incorporated Mead-Johnson and the Sugar Association.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biostatistics and Clinical Nutrition Research Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA

    DB Allison

  2. New York Obesity Research Center, St Luke's/Roosevelt Hospital, Institute of Human Nutrition, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, USA

    SK Zhu, M Plankey, MS Faith & M Heo

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  1. DB Allison
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  2. SK Zhu
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Correspondence to DB Allison.

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Allison, D., Zhu, S., Plankey, M. et al. Differential associations of body mass index and adiposity with all-cause mortality among men in the first and second National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES I and NHANES II) follow-up studies. Int J Obes 26, 410–416 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0801925

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Keywords

  • BMI
  • adiposity
  • all-cause mortality
  • longitudinal cohort study

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