General and abdominal adiposity and mortality in Mexico City: prospective study of 150 000 adults

Journal article

Background: Some reports suggest that body mass index (BMI) is not strongly associated with mortality in Hispanic populations.

Objective: To assess the causal relevance of adiposity to mortality in Mexican adults, avoiding reverse causality biases.

Design: Prospective study.

Setting: 2 Mexico City districts.

Participants: 159 755 adults aged 35 years and older at recruitment, followed for up to 14 years. Participants with a hemoglobin A1c level of 7% or greater, diabetes, or other chronic diseases were excluded.

Measurements: BMI, waist-to-hip ratio, waist circumference, and cause-specific mortality. Cox regression, adjusted for confounders, yielded mortality hazard ratios (HRs) after at least 5 years of follow-up and before age 75 years.

Results: Among 115 400 participants aged 35 to <75 years at recruitment, mean BMI was 28.0 kg/m2 (SD, 4.1 kg/m2) in men and 29.6 kg/m2 (SD, 5.1 kg/m2) in women. The association of BMI at recruitment with all-cause mortality was J-shaped, with the minimum at 25 to <27.5 kg/m2. Above 25 kg/m2, each.

Authors: Gnatiuc, L; Alegre-Díaz, J; Wade, R; Ramirez-Reyes, R; Tapia-Conyer, R

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: American College of Physicians
• Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine More from this journal
• Volume: 171
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 397-405
• Publication date: 2019-08-13
• Acceptance date: 2019-06-19
• DOI: 10.7326/m18-3502
• EISSN: 1539-3704
• ISSN: 0003-4819
• Language: English