title: The association between excess weight and comorbidity and self-rated health in the Italian population.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the association of obesity with comorbidity and with subjective health perception in a large sample representative of the Italian population and how the association differs by age and gender.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional data were obtained from nine waves of the "Multipurpose Household Survey," conducted by the Italian National Institute of Statistics. Self-reported height and weight, six weight-associated diseases and self-rated health (SRH) were evaluated on 352,020 subjects aged 20 to 89 years. Comorbidity was defined as the presence of two or more diseases.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of comorbidity was significantly different between obese and normal weight subjects in all age categories. SRH was worse in obese subjects than in those of normal weight; this difference persisted, at least in females, into older ages.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Obesity is associated with comorbidity and self-rated health; this association varies across ages and genders. The results found for obese subjects of a given age category were similar to (or worse than) those found for older normal weight subjects of the next age class. For comorbidity, this was true both in males and in females of all the considered age categories; for SRH, this was true in particular for females and younger males.
authors: Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of Trento, Italy. rocco.micciolo@unitn.it
authors: Rocco
authors: R
authors: Micciolo
authors: Luisa
authors: L
authors: Canal
authors: Alessia
authors: A
authors: Minniti
authors: Gloria
authors: G
authors: Mazzali
authors: Francesco
authors: F
authors: Fantin
authors: Francesca
authors: F
authors: Corzato
authors: Angela
authors: A
authors: Antonioli
authors: Tamara B
authors: TB
authors: Harris
authors: Mauro
authors: M
authors: Zamboni
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D057566:Self Report; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*