Having too large a waistline or BMI in your 40s increases your risk of suffering physical decline and frailty as you age.
- Frailty is often characterized by at least 3 of the following 5 criteria: involuntary weight loss, exhaustion, low grip strength, slow walking speed and low level of physical activity.
- Physical frailty increases the risk of falls, disability, hospitalization and death. It also reduces the quality of life and autonomy.
Paying attention to your weight isn’t just an aesthetic issue. Overweight and obesity increase the risk of many disorders such as cancer and diabetes. A Norwegian study adds a new complication to the list: increased physical fragility with age.
Physical fragility: pay attention to waist circumference and BMI after 45
For their work, the researchers used data from the Tromsø study, a scientific project based on 7 surveys carried out between 1974 and 2015-16 among 45,000 inhabitants of the Norwegian city of Tromsø. For their part, they used the questionnaires from waves 4 (1994-5) to 7 (2015-16).
Their analysis thus includes 4,509 people aged 45 or over. The mean age at baseline was 51 years, with a mean follow-up period of 21 years. Participants were classified according to their body mass index (BMI) and their physical frailty.
The team found that people who were obese (BMI >30) at the start of the study were 2.5 times more likely to suffer from physical frailty than those with a normal BMI (18.5 to 24.9), according to the study. study published in the journal BMJ Open.
Additionally, men and women with a large waist circumference (greater than 95 cm and 81 cm respectively) after age 45 were twice as likely to exhibit physical decline as they aged.
Inflammation of fat cells in question?
If scientists at the University of Oslo in Tromsø have not identified the cause behind the link between physical frailty in old age and a BMI or a large waist circumference in your forties. They put forward several hypotheses. Among other things, they believe that obesity promotes increased inflammation of fat cells, which can damage muscle fibers. “resulting in reduced muscle strength and function”.
The authors add in their article: “As the population ages rapidly and the obesity epidemic grows, there is growing evidence of the ‘fat and frail’ elderly subgroup, which contrasts with the image of frailty seen only as an aging disorder.”
They add that their work highlights “the importance of regularly assessing and maintaining a BMI and [un tour de taille] optimal throughout adulthood to reduce the risk of frailty in old age”.