Body mass index and disability in adulthood: a 20-year panel study.
OBJECTIVE
This study examined whether body mass index (BMI) or change in BMI raises the risk of disability in adulthood.


METHODS
The relation between BMI and upper- and lower-body disability was examined among adult subjects from a national longitudinal survey (n = 6833). Tobit regression models were used to examine the effect of BMI on disability 10 and 20 years later.


RESULTS
Obesity (BMI > or = 30) at baseline or becoming obese during the study was associated with higher levels of upper- and, especially, lower-body disability. In persons who began the study with a BMI of 30 or more and became normal weight, disability was not reduced. Underweight persons (BMI < 18.5) also manifested higher disability in most instances.


CONCLUSIONS
Disability risk was higher for obese persons, but overweight was not consistently associated with higher disability.
Ferraro
Kenneth F
KF
Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind 47907-1365, USA. ferraro@purdue.edu
Su
Ya-Ping
YP
Gretebeck
Randall J
RJ
Black
David R
DR
Badylak
Stephen F
SF
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000145:classification; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000453:epidemiology; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008875:Middle Aged; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology