Excess weight and disability among the elderly in Argentina

The aim of this paper is to analyze the relationship between excess weight and the condition of disability among elderly people in Argentina and to assess the extent to which a protective factor could be operating that reduces or mitigates the effect of overweight on the loss of functional skills in people over 64 years of age. In order to do so, microdata from Argentina's 2009 National Survey of Risk Factors [Encuesta Nacional de Factores de Riesgo] was utilized. To measure the association among overweight, obesity and disability status, as well as the interaction of weight status and age, logistic regression models were estimated. The results indicate that although overweight and obesity have a positive net effect on the occurrence of disabilities, this effect is lower among people 64 years of age and older. This result could be suggesting that among older people a protective factor is at work that, while not reversing the direct relationship between excess weight and disability, seems to attenuate it.