The heavier a woman is at the age of 18, the greater
is her risk of dying prematurely, according to a large
study recently published.
Harvard researchers found that of the more than 100,000
U.S. women, who were overweight or obese at age 18,
faced a higher risk of early death from heart disease,
cancer, suicide and other causes 12 years later.
Women who were overweight at 18 were 66 percent more
likely to die prematurely than those who were thin,
while obesity at age 18 nearly tripled the risk of
dying in young by middle-age.
Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health
in Boston report the findings in the Annals of Internal
Medicine.
Although overweight and obese teens are likely to
remain so as adults, adulthood weight did not completely
explain the link between teenage weight and premature
death, said principal study author Dr. Frank B. Hu.
This suggests that childhood obesity itself has lasting
health effects, he stated, and it's not clear whether
weight loss later in life erases the damage.
"Losing weight can certainly reduce the risks," Hu
said, "but whether it completely eliminates them is
unclear."
He said the findings underscore the importance of
preventing excessive weight gain in the first place.
"This is further evidence that childhood obesity is
a major public health problem," Hu said.
The findings come from the long-running Nurses' Health
Study II, which began following 116,671 female nurses
in 1989, when the women were between 24 and 44 years
of age.
Participants completed detailed health questionnaires
at the study's start and at regular intervals thereafter.
The first survey asked them to estimate their weight
at age 18.
Over the next 12 years, 710 women died, with an increase
in risk climbing in tandem with weight at age 18.
Compared with women who were normal-weight at 18,
those who were overweight were more than three times
as likely to die prematurely of heart disease or stroke
and 40 percent more likely to die of cancer.
They were also about twice as likely to commit suicide.
These weight-related risks remained when the researchers
factored in lifestyle habits like smoking, exercise
and alcohol use.
It's possible, according to Hu's team, that excess
body fat in adolescence has specific and lasting effects
on the metabolic or cardiovascular systems that contribute
to premature death.
Whatever the reason for the link, the researchers
say, the findings once again highlight the need for
obesity prevention early in life. Health consequences
often do not take years to emerge, Hu noted, as heavy
children can develop serious problems like type 2
diabetes and high blood pressure.
SOURCE: Annals of Internal Medicine, July 18, 2006.
