Body mass index and mortality among older people living in the community.
OBJECTIVE
To determine if body mass index (BMI = weight/height2), predictive of mortality in seriously ill hospitalized and institutionalized patients, is also predictive of mortality in a longitudinal epidemiologic study.


METHODS
A prospective cohort study.


METHODS
Rovereto, a town in northern Italy.


METHODS
A consecutive sample of 214 patients aged 81.2 +/- 7.3 years receiving community care services.


METHODS
Malnutrition and mortality.


RESULTS
According to logistic regression analysis, malnutrition status, expressed by a BMI < 22 Kg/m2, was correlated with dependency in Activity of Daily Living (odds ratio 1.21; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01-1.45). Only a low BMI was associated with 1-year survival in Cox regression analysis, after adjusting for potential confounders (relative risk 0.85; 95%CI, 0.74-0.97). A high BMI (>27 Kg/m2) was not significantly related to risk of mortality.


CONCLUSIONS
Nutrition variables are a cardinal component of comprehensive geriatric assessment. Our results suggest that BMI, a simple anthropometric measure of nutritional status, is an important predictor of mortality among older people living in the community. Even when controlling for clinical and functional variables, a low BMI remained a significant and independent predictor of shortened survival.
Landi
F
F
Istituto di Medicina Interna e Geriatria, Universită Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy.
Zuccalà
G
G
Gambassi
G
G
Incalzi
R A
RA
Manigrasso
L
L
Pagano
F
F
Carbonin
P
P
Bernabei
R
R
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003153:Community Health Services; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D009026:Mortality; D009752:Nutritional Status; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012044:Regression Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate