Table 2.

Relationships between BMI categories and all-cause mortality, co-morbidities and physical function among 4145 middle-aged and older adults, totalling 42 353 person-years, Taiwan Longitudinal Study on Aging, 1996–2007

	Total		Underweight (n 244)		Normal weight (n 2022)		Overweight (n 1039)		Obesity (n 537)
Characteristic in 1996	n or Mean	% or sd	n or Mean	% or sd	n or Mean	% or sd	n or Mean	% or sd	n or Mean	% or sd	P value
Deceased											<0·0001
No	2719	70·8	123	50·4	1394	68·9	779	75·0	423	78·8
Yes	1123	29·2	121	49·6	628	31·1	260	25·0	114	21·2
Hypertension											<0·0001
No	2857	74·4	211	86·5	1580	78·1	745	71·7	321	59·8
Yes	985	25·6	33	13·5	442	21·9	294	28·3	216	40·2
Diabetes											0·0038
No	3462	90·1	230	94·3	1842	91·1	917	88·3	473	88·1
Yes	380	9·9	14	5·7	180	8·9	122	11·7	64	11·9
Heart disease											0·0024
No	3304	86·0	206	84·4	1764	87·2	899	86·5	435	81·0
Yes	538	14·0	38	15·6	258	12·8	140	13·5	102	19·0
Stroke											0·5327
No	3729	97·1	237	97·1	1956	96·7	1015	97·7	521	97·0
Yes	113	2·9	7	2·9	66	3·3	24	2·3	16	3·0
Cancer											0·4994
No	3805	99·0	241	98·8	2006	99·2	1029	99·0	529	98·5
Yes	37	1·0	3	1·2	16	0·8	10	1·0	8	1·5
Lung disease											0·2487
No	3508	91·3	217	88·9	1841	91·0	950	91·4	500	93·1
Yes	334	8·7	27	11·1	181	9·0	89	8·6	37	6·9
Depression status											0·0165
No	2783	72·4	161	66·0	1448	71·6	765	73·6	409	76·2
Yes	1059	27·6	83	34·0	574	28·4	274	26·4	128	23·8
Number of diseases†	0·62	0·85	0·50	0·77	0·57	0·82	0·65	0·88	0·82	0·90	<0·0001
Physical function†	0·08	0·17	0·14	0·21	0·07	0·16	0·08	0·15	0·10	0·18	<0·0001

Underweight, BMI<18·5 kg/m²; normal weight, 18·5 kg/m²≤BMI<24·0 kg/m²; overweight, 24·0 kg/m²≤BMI<27·0 kg/m²; obesity, BMI≥27·0 kg/m².

^†Values are presented as mean and standard deviation.