Obesity and smoking are equal risk factors for death

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Obese adolescents have the same risk of premature death in adulthood as people who smoke more than 1...

Obese adolescents have the same risk of premature death in adulthood as people who smoke more than 10 cigarettes a day, according to a new study from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. What most interested the researchers is that the combination of overweight and smoking did not act synergistically as mortality risk factors.

"This means that being overweight or obese at the age of 18 increases the risk of premature death, regardless of smoking status", said Doctor Martin Neovius, at the Department of Medicine, Solna, who lead the study.

The research analysed the cause of death of over 45,000 men conscripted into Swedish military service. The participants all had their body mass index measured and reported their smoking status at the age of 18 and were followed for an average of 38 years.

During 1.7 million person-years of follow-up, 2,897 participants died. After accounting for muscle strength, socio-economic position and age, the incidence rate of death was similar for obese non-smokers and normal weight heavy smokers, which both experienced a two-fold risk of premature death, compared with normal weight non-smokers at 25 versus 11 deaths/10,000 person-years.

Similarly, the incidence of overweight non-smokers and normal weight light smokers were similar at 16 versus 18 deaths/10,000 person-years.

These findings indicate that obesity and heavy smoking at this age are equally hazardous, as are overweight and light smoking. Being an obese heavy smoker resulted in a five-fold risk increase.

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