Childhood obesity linked to premature death

Glucose intolerance and hypertension in childhood also strongly associated with increased rates of early death

A study in the New England Journal of Medicine, by Paul Franks and others, assessed the extent to which obesity, glucose intolerance, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia in children without diabetes predicted premature death (defined as death before 55 years of age) in American Indians from Arizona.

Although early-onset diabetes has been shown to raise mortality rates, and the relation between cardiovascular risk factors during adulthood and early death is well defined, little is known about the way in which cardiovascular risk factors that are present during childhood affect life span. Defining such relationships may help predict the long-term human and economic costs of cardiovascular risk factors in childhood and might justify interventions that are intended to improve health and reduce the rates of premature death.

The study found obesity, glucose intolerance, and hypertension in childhood were strongly associated with increased rates of premature death from endogenous causes in this population. In contrast, childhood hypercholesterolemia was not a major predictor of premature death from endogenous causes.

Source: The New England Journal of Medicine, 11 February 2010.

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