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Body mass index and disability in adulthood: a 20-year panel study
Kenneth F Ferraro1, Ya-Ping Su, Randall J Gretebeck
1Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind 47907-1365, USA. ferraro@purdue.edu
Objectives:
This study examined whether body mass index (BMI) or change in BMI raises the risk of disability in adulthood.
Methods:
The relation between BMI and upper- and lower-body disability was examined among adult subjects from a national longitudinal survey (n = 6833). Tobit regression models were used to examine the effect of BMI on disability 10 and 20 years later.
Results:
Obesity (BMI > or = 30) at baseline or becoming obese during the study was associated with higher levels of upper- and, especially, lower-body disability. In persons who began the study with a BMI of 30 or more and became normal weight, disability was not reduced. Underweight persons (BMI < 18.5) also manifested higher disability in most instances.
Conclusions:
Disability risk was higher for obese persons, but overweight was not consistently associated with higher disability.