A 51-year retrospective study of the trends of height, weight and body mass index at the time of death in those aged 16–103

doi:10.1054/jcfm.2001.0486

Journal of Clinical Forensic Medicine

Volume 8, Issue 2, June 2001, Pages 66-73

https://doi.org/10.1054/jcfm.2001.0486 Get rights and content

The study investigates the trends in survival age, height, weight and body mass index (BMI) in both genders for those aged 16–103 at the time of death. It also investigates the trend in the proportion of the population classified as obese using data extracted from 37 206 autopsy reports spanning the period 1947–1997. The data was analysed using the computerised statistical software SPSS® with tables and figures produced of mean values per investigation value per sex per 10-year age group per decade. The data confirmed reported trends that thepopulation is getting older, taller and heavier with the mean BMI increasing such that the proportion of individuals who can be classified as obese is increasing. These trends will potentially have an impact on healthcare as more people will have an increased risk of associated morbidity and mortality, as well as an implication on welfare and housing for the increasingly elderly population.

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Citation Excerpt :
The current study has confirmed that there has been a marked increase in the number of obese individuals undergoing coronial post mortem examinations in South Australia over the past 21 years. An increase in BMI was also shown in a 51-year retrospective study of autopsy weights in the United Kingdom from 1947 to 1997.8 While an increase in the average yearly BMI from 25.1 in 1986 to 27.1 in 2006 in South Australia may not appear particularly significant, closer examination reveals that there has been a 14.8% decline in individuals of normal size from 47% to 32.2%, with a 12.4% increase in obese individuals from 14.8% to 27.2% (Table 1).
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ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONA 51-year retrospective study of the trends of height, weight and body mass index at the time of death in those aged 16–103

Am J Clin Nutr

Am J Clin Nutr

Body mass index standards for children are useful for clinicians but not yet for epidemiologists

BMJ

Calculating body mass index

Ann Int Med

Body mass index as an estimate of body fat

Int J Eating Disorders

A mathematical approach for estimating reference values for weight-for-age, weight-for-height and height-for-age

Growth, Development and Aging

Hypothesis concerning the U-shaped relation between bodymass index and mortality

Am J Epidemiol

RIFLE research group. Role of body mass index in the prediction of all cause mortality in over 62000 men and women. The Italian RIFLE pooling project

J Epidemiol Community Health

Bodyweight and mortality among women

N Engl J Med

Overweight, underweight and mortality. A prospective study of48287 men and women

Arch Intern Med

The body mass index-mortality relationship in white and African American women

Obesity research

Weight and mortality in the Whitehall study

BMJ

Relative weight classifications in the assessment of underweight and overweight in the United States

Int J Obesity

Body mass index variations: centiles from birth to 87 years

Eur J Clin Nutrition

A study of pattern of body mass index (BMI) and prevalence of obesity in a Saudi population

Asia Pac J Public Health

Body mass index variations by age and sex, and prevalence of overweight in Japanese adults

Int J Obesity

The body mass index of Chinese adults in the 1980's

Eur J Clin Nutrition

Weight-height relationships among eight populations of West Africa origin: the case against constant BMI standards

Int J Obesity

Weight, height and body mass index distributions in geographically and ethnically diverse samples of older persons

Age and Aging

Height, weight, BMI and weight-for-height of adults in southern Iran: how should obesity be defined?

Ann Hum Biol

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATION
A 51-year retrospective study of the trends of height, weight and body mass index at the time of death in those aged 16–103