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Published on: February 2, 2017
Sources of heterogeneity in studies of the BMI-mortality association
Raphael Simon Peter1, Gabriele Nagel2
1Institute of Epidemiology and Medical Biometry, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany.
Background:
To date, the amount of heterogeneity among studies of the body mass index-mortality association attributable to differences in the age distribution and length of follow-up has not been quantified. Therefore, we wanted to quantify the amount of heterogeneity attributable to age and follow-up in results of studies on the body mass index-mortality relation.
Methods:
We used optima of the body mass index mortality association reported for 30 populations and performed meta-regression to estimate the amount of heterogeneity attributable to sex, ethnicity, mean age at baseline, percentage smokers, and length of follow-up.
Results:
Ethnicity as single factor accounted for 36% (95% CI, 11-56%) of heterogeneity. Mean age and length of follow-up had an interactive effect and together accounted for 56% (95% CI, 24-74%) of the remaining heterogeneity. Sex did not significantly contribute to the heterogeneity, after controlling for ethnicity, age, and length of follow-up.
Conclusions:
A considerable amount of heterogeneity in studies of the body mass index-mortality association is attributable to ethnicity, age, and length of follow-up.
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