Heavy Bodyweight Raises Dementia
Risk in Men
February 18, 2005
A link between body mass index (BMI) — a measure
of weight in relation to height — and a hospital
or death certificate diagnosis of dementia has been
identified in a Swedish study.
Drawing on data collected in the Primary Prevention
Study that began in Goteburg in 1970, researchers analyzed
7402 men who were between 47 and 55 years old between
1970 and 1973. None of the men had a history of stroke
or heart attack at the start of the study.
Dr. Annika Rosengren of Sahlgrenska University Hospital
in Goteburg and a multicenter team classified the subjects
into four groups: 22 men diagnosed with Alzheimer's
disease; 78 men with a secondary diagnosis of dementia;
154 diagnosed with dementia as a primary diagnosis or
cause of death; and 7148 men who had never been diagnosed
with dementia.
According to the team's report in the Archives of Internal
Medicine, they found that the likelihood of dementia
rose linearly as body mass index increased.
That is, after factoring in smoking, blood pressure,
cholesterol, diabetes, and social strata, men with a
BMI of about 20 at the start of the study had the lowest
risk of developing dementia, and the risk rose steadily
up to 2.5-times greater for men with a BMI of 30 or
higher.
"Overweight and obesity," Rosengren's group
says, "could be major preventable factors in the
development of dementia."
Source:http://abcnews.go.com
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