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Dr. Kim Mulvihill Reporting You may already know that high blood pressure and high cholesterol put you at risk for illness.
A new study shows that people who are obese in middle age, even those with good cholesterol levels and blood pressure levels, are at increased risk of hospitalization or death from heart disease or diabetes in old age.
Dr. Robert Kushner is an obesity specialist. A number of his patients have asked him this:
Robert Kushner, M.D./ Obesity Specialist: "If everything is okay regarding my blood sugar, my cholesterol, and my blood pressure, does my weight really make a difference?"
According to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the answer is yes.
Lijing Yan, Ph.D./ Northwestern University: "Even for those who didn't have high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes, but who were overweight or obese in middle age, they were at much higher risk of being hospitalized for heart disease or diabetes, or even dying from it in older age."
Researchers studied the health histories of more than 17-thousand Chicagoans, whose health had been tracked for about thirty years. They found a connection between overweight and obesity in middle age, and hospitalization and death after age 65.
Lijing Yan, Ph.D./ Northwestern University: "Our study is one more reason for people to pay more attention to their weight, even for those who think they're okay, their blood pressure and cholesterol are not high and they're not diabetic."
Compared to those of normal weight, obese people's risk for hospitalization later in life from heart disease was up to four times greater. Their risk of death from diabetes was up to eleven times greater.
Robert Kushner, M.D./ Obesity Specialist: "Every pound that you put on really does rob you later in life of health, as well as chances are you're going to be hospitalized more and perhaps even die sooner."
It's all the more reason to watch your weight at any age.
The study authors say that doctors and patients should work together to focus on healthy weight, even if patients have healthy levels of blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol.
