<span id="midArticle_start"/><span id="midArticle_0"/>NEW YORK May 4 (Reuters) - Patients with type-2 diabeteswho are overweight but not obese outlive diabetics of normalweight, scientists reported on Monday, in another example of the"obesity paradox."
<span id="midArticle_1"/>Although public health officials issue dire warnings aboutthe consequences of overweight, and employers are pressuringworkers to slim down via "wellness programs," the relationshipbetween weight and longevity is paradoxical: Studies show thatalthough obesity increases the risk of developing cardiovasculardisease (CVD), overweight patients with CVD live longer thanpatients of normal weight.
<span id="midArticle_2"/>Similarly, obesity increases the chances of developingtype-2 diabetes. But it wasn't clear if overweight confers asurvival advantage in diabetics.
<span id="midArticle_3"/>Sixteen previous studies got conflicting answers: Some foundoverweight diabetics had lower mortality; others didn't. Butmany were hobbled by methodological problems including fewpatients, short follow-up, or using questionnaires rather thanclinic records.
<span id="midArticle_4"/>The new study tried to do better. Researchers led by Drs.Stephen Atkin and Pierluigi Costanzo of Britain's University ofHull followed 10,568 patients with type-2 diabetes for anaverage of nearly 11 years.
<span id="midArticle_5"/>Although overweight and obese patients had an increased riskof heart attacks and strokes, they were more likely to stayalive than normal-weight diabetics, the researchers reported inAnnals of Internal Medicine.
<span id="midArticle_6"/>(Overweight is defined as a body mass index of 25 to 29.9,which would be 146 to 174 pounds for someone 5 feet 4 inches.Normal weight means a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9, or 108 to 145 poundsat that height.)
<span id="midArticle_7"/>Underweight diabetics had the highest risk of dying duringthe study, with nearly three times the mortality ofnormal-weight patients. Overweight patients had the bestsurvival, being 13 percent less likely to die than normal-weightor obese diabetics.
<span id="midArticle_8"/>That result was at odds with a 2014 study in the New EnglandJournal of Medicine that found no survival advantage with extrapounds. That study, however, used the upper end of normal weightas the comparison. If it had used the full range of 18.5 to24.9, Costanzo said, "it's likely" the results "would have beensimilar to ours."
<span id="midArticle_9"/>One way extra pounds might keep diabetics alive longer is ifoverweight protects against frailty and osteoporosis, which cankill. Alternatively, diabetes in lean people might take anespecially lethal form.
<span id="midArticle_10"/>"It's likely those diabetic patients with normal weight havea more aggressive form of type-2 diabetes compared to those whoare overweight and obese," Costanzo said. (Reporting by Sharon Begley; Editing by Ted Botha)
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<span id="midArticle_1"/>Although public health officials issue dire warnings aboutthe consequences of overweight, and employers are pressuringworkers to slim down via "wellness programs," the relationshipbetween weight and longevity is paradoxical: Studies show thatalthough obesity increases the risk of developing cardiovasculardisease (CVD), overweight patients with CVD live longer thanpatients of normal weight.
<span id="midArticle_2"/>Similarly, obesity increases the chances of developingtype-2 diabetes. But it wasn't clear if overweight confers asurvival advantage in diabetics.
<span id="midArticle_3"/>Sixteen previous studies got conflicting answers: Some foundoverweight diabetics had lower mortality; others didn't. Butmany were hobbled by methodological problems including fewpatients, short follow-up, or using questionnaires rather thanclinic records.
<span id="midArticle_4"/>The new study tried to do better. Researchers led by Drs.Stephen Atkin and Pierluigi Costanzo of Britain's University ofHull followed 10,568 patients with type-2 diabetes for anaverage of nearly 11 years.
<span id="midArticle_5"/>Although overweight and obese patients had an increased riskof heart attacks and strokes, they were more likely to stayalive than normal-weight diabetics, the researchers reported inAnnals of Internal Medicine.
<span id="midArticle_6"/>(Overweight is defined as a body mass index of 25 to 29.9,which would be 146 to 174 pounds for someone 5 feet 4 inches.Normal weight means a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9, or 108 to 145 poundsat that height.)
<span id="midArticle_7"/>Underweight diabetics had the highest risk of dying duringthe study, with nearly three times the mortality ofnormal-weight patients. Overweight patients had the bestsurvival, being 13 percent less likely to die than normal-weightor obese diabetics.
<span id="midArticle_8"/>That result was at odds with a 2014 study in the New EnglandJournal of Medicine that found no survival advantage with extrapounds. That study, however, used the upper end of normal weightas the comparison. If it had used the full range of 18.5 to24.9, Costanzo said, "it's likely" the results "would have beensimilar to ours."
<span id="midArticle_9"/>One way extra pounds might keep diabetics alive longer is ifoverweight protects against frailty and osteoporosis, which cankill. Alternatively, diabetes in lean people might take anespecially lethal form.
<span id="midArticle_10"/>"It's likely those diabetic patients with normal weight havea more aggressive form of type-2 diabetes compared to those whoare overweight and obese," Costanzo said. (Reporting by Sharon Begley; Editing by Ted Botha)
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