title: Is There an Association Between the Body Mass Index and Interpersonal Violent Behavior?
abstract: An inverse relationship between the body mass index (BMI) and the risk of completed suicide was shown in several studies. Furthermore, it is suggested that obesity might be associated with a lower risk for violent criminality. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze whether a higher BMI is associated with a lower risk for being arrested due to violent behavior in a sample of 43,992 male offenders. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was applied to assess the relationship between different BMI categories and categories of committed crime as outcome variable by including various covariates. Our results indicated that compared to a normal BMI a higher BMI was associated with a significantly lower risk for being arrested in different crime categories associated with interpersonal violence, such as crimes against life and limb (for example: odds ratio=0.60, CI 95%: 0.52-0.69 for 30-34.9 kg/m2).
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Health, Centre for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Kinderspitalgasse 15, 1090, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Cem
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ekmekcioglu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Health, Centre for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Kinderspitalgasse 15, 1090, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Selin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Devletlian
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Health, Centre for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Kinderspitalgasse 15, 1090, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Blasche
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Health, Centre for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Kinderspitalgasse 15, 1090, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kundi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001317:Austria / Q000453:epidemiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003415:Crime / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D011329:Prisoners / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D014754:Violence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: behavior; body mass index; forensic science; obesity; offenders; violence