Obesity in early 20s curbs chances of reaching middle age

According to a research study published in BMJ Open (an online, open access journal dedicated to publishing medical research) in April, young men who are obese in their early 20s are significantly more likely to develop serious ill health by the time they reach middle age, or not even make it that far.

The study tracked the health condition of 6,500 Danish men for 33 years.It was found that almost half of those classified as obese at the age of 22 were later diagnosed with diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, blood clots in the legs or lungs, or had died before reaching the age of 55.

These obese young people were eight times as likely to get diabetes as their normal weight peers and four times as likely to get a potentially fatal blood clot (venous thromboembolism). They were also more than twice as likely to develop high blood pressure, had had a heart attack, or to have died by the age of 55.

In all, every unit increase in BMI corresponded to an increased heart attack rate of 5%, high blood pressure and blood clot rates of 10% and an increased diabetes rate of 20%. Obese young men were three times as likely to get any of these serious conditions as their normal weight peers by middle age, conferring an absolute risk of almost 50% compared with only 20% among their normal weight peers.