The research team of project professor TAMORI Yoshikazu and others. In this study, he discovered how the amount of obesity affects the prevalence of the three most common comorbid diseases (diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia) in men and women. Data from nearly 11,000 65-year-old Japanese residents of Kobe were analyzed and found that increased obesity increased the incidence of all three diseases in men.
Obesity can lead to complications of various diseases, as well as a decrease in healthy life expectancy and quality of life. Diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia are common obesity-related diseases that promote hardening of the arteries (arteriosclerosis), which is associated with the development of potentially fatal conditions such as stroke and heart disease.
Even if they are only mildly obese, people of East Asian descent (including the Japanese) are prone to metabolic problems. However, more research is needed on the precise relationship between the degree of obesity and the extent to which comorbidities emerge. In developed countries like Japan, the age of 65 is often called the beginning of old age. While it is important to avoid being overweight in old age, it is also important not to be frail or too thin, as this can lead to sarcopenia and frailty.
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Researchers found a BMI-related prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia in approximately 11,000 residents of the 65-year-old city of Kobe. They also compared data from normal-weight participants to examine the likelihood of developing these diseases at different levels of obesity.
Positive Effects of Weight Loss
Not much research has been done on the relationship between the prevalence of obesity-related diseases and the amount of obesity, with only a vague confirmation that the risk of obesity-related diseases increases as a person’s weight increases. As a result, when treating lifestyle diseases and obesity, it is difficult to provide unequivocal information about how much weight loss will reduce the risk of disease. However, this study found that weight loss was effective in reducing the risks of diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia in men. A study in women found that although weight loss is successful in reducing the prevalence of diabetes and hypertension, weight loss alone is not sufficient to reduce dyslipidemia, and lifestyle modification guidance and treatment (eg, diet and exercise) are also required.
In addition to the three diseases examined in this study, other important comorbidities associated with obesity include cerebral infarction (stroke), coronary artery disease, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, sleep apnea syndrome, and osteoarthritis. Knowing how often these obesity-related health problems occur at different levels of obesity is critical for physicians to provide better guidance and therapy based on patient age and gender. Such estimates of weight loss effectiveness would also be useful for the economics of the health care system.
Source: Medium
