THE’obesity would lead to up to 47% more years of life lost, according to the results of a study presented their data at the Annual Meeting of the Society of General Internal Medicine. It would therefore be the main risk factor for modifiable mortality in the face of diabetes, smoking, hypertension or high cholesterol.
Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic in the United States analyzed behavioral modifiable risk factors for causes of death in the American population, using medical data from 2014.
Based on this preliminary work, the team found that the greatest number of preventable years of life lost was attributable toobesity, then to diabetes, to smoking, at thehypertension et al’hypercholesterolemia.
“Modifiable behavioral risk factors are a huge death burden in the United States,” said Glen Taksler, Cleveland Clinic internal medicine researcher and lead author of the study. “These preliminary results continue to highlight the importance of weight loss, diabetes management and healthy eating in the American population.”
To estimate the number of years of life lost for each modifiable risk factor, the researchers looked at the variation in mortality for a series of hypothetical U.S. populations that eliminated a single risk factor. They compared the results with the variation in years of life lost for an “optimal” population which eliminated all modifiable risk factors. The difficulty in this type of analysis is not always being able to take into account all the risk factors.
“The reality is, while we may know the immediate cause of a patient’s death, for example, breast cancer or a heart attack, we don’t always know the contributing factor (s) ( s), such as tobacco use, obesity, alcohol and family history For each major cause of death, we identified a root cause to understand if there was a way a person could have lived Longer. “
Read also: The 13 commandments to lose 10 pounds (or more) and keep them off
3 of the 5 modifiable risk factors
The researchers insist that three (diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol) of the five leading causes of death can be treated. Healthcare professionals need to help patients understand treatment options and approaches that can have a significant impact on the years of life gained. The results also underline the importance of public health prevention in the fight against the scourge of obesity.
Read also:
Obesity involved in the majority of cancers
Obesity is linked to eight cancers
Obesity, an aggressive cancer risk factor
