People who are obese from childhood through to middle age
are more than twice as likely to have difficulty with daily tasks
such as lifting, climbing stairs and carrying shopping by the
time they are 50, a new UCL study has found.
The study, published today in International
Journal of Epidemiology, found that those who became obese
in early life had more than double the risk of difficulties with
such tasks than those who were never obese.
Longer duration of obesity had the most impact on risk, the
study found, with those becoming obese in middle age having a
smaller increase in risk. For example, men who became obese
between the ages of 45 and 50 faced an increase in risk of about
50%, while for women the risk increase was 78%. The authors
suggested this was likely because people who were obese for
longer were also more likely to have a higher BMI by the age of
50.
Dr Nina Rogers (UCL Epidemiology & Public Health), lead
author of the study, said: “The prevalence of obesity at younger
ages is increasing. Since obesity in childhood often tracks into
adulthood, it is likely that more people will spend increasing
periods of their life living with obesity.
“Our study therefore emphasises the importance of
preventing and delaying the onset of obesity in order to mitigate
the risk of poor physical functioning in middle
age.”
The researchers analysed data from 8,674 participants from
the 1958 National Child Development Study, a birth cohort study
that has followed thousands of people from when they were born in
1958 through to midlife.
The study found that obesity at any age in adulthood was
associated with greater risk of poor physical functioning at age
50. For example, compared to a woman of average height (1.62cm)
and weight at 23 years, an 8kg higher weight was associated with
a 32% elevated risk of poor physical functioning at the age of
50.
Physical functioning was assessed with a validated
questionnaire that asked participants how able they were to do
the physical tasks of daily living such as carrying shopping,
bending, kneeling, climbing up stairs and walking moderate
distances. The most limited 10 per cent of respondents in each
gender were classed as having poor physical
functioning.
Half of the participants classified as having poor physical
functioning reported that they had trouble bending, kneeling or
stooping and just over a quarter had difficulty bathing or
dressing.
The authors said that being able to carry out everyday
physical tasks, such as those examined, was important as it
enabled people to live independently, work or volunteer for
longer, and engage more with friends, family and the community
around them.
Dr Pinto Pereira (UCL Epidemiology & Public Health),
senior author of the study, said: “Adults need to be able to
perform the physical tasks of daily living in order to live
independently and this is particularly important in the context
of an ageing population. Examining physical functioning in middle
age is crucial because there may be scope to intervene to delay
or possibly reverse poor physical functioning before older ages
when problems may be harder to alter.”
The work was supported by the Medical Research Council and
the Department of Health Policy Research Programme through the
Public Health Research Consortium (PHRC).
Notes to Editors
Nina Trivedy Rogers, Chris Power, and Snehal M Pinto
Pereira, Birthweight, lifetime obesity and physical
functioning in mid-adulthood: a nationwide birth cohort
study will be published in International
Journal of Epidemiology on Thursday 20 June 2019, 01:01
UK time / Wednesday 19 June 2019, 19:01 US Eastern time and is
under a strict embargo until this time.
