Obesity in the elderly.
OBJECTIVE
Clinical review of the epidemiology, morbidity, mortality, medical and economic costs of being overweight or obese; recommendations on obesity from the National Institutes of Health; and how these factors relate to the elderly.


METHODS
Medline search was used to identify relevant articles. Additional references were found in review articles and consensus guidelines.


METHODS
Fifty-nine articles were identified and 40 were selected based on findings related to geriatric patients or obesity overall. Studies done in the United States as well as in European populations were included.


METHODS
Data were abstracted per findings for: epidemiology of being overweight and obese for adults and elderly, mortality and morbidity of being overweight or obese, issues with weight loss in the elderly, changes in physiology with aging that may impact on weight, whether increased body mass index (BMI) is directly associated with mortality in the elderly, whether the National Institutes of Health guidelines for BMI in obesity should be applied to elderly persons, mortality associated with weight, and costs of obesity.


RESULTS
The main findings suggest that being underweight results in a higher mortality for elderly persons as compared with being overweight.


CONCLUSIONS
The primary conclusion is that it is still not yet defined if the elderly should be held to the NIH standards for "overweight" and "obesity." More research is needed to determine if overweight and obese elderly benefit from weight loss measures or if they should be kept at their current weight.
Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical, Inc, Charleston, SC 29412, USA. pitner@ompus.jnj.com
Janet K
JK
Pitner