Figure 2.

Association between BMI and Level 2 and Level 3 cause-specific mortality outcomes among never-smokers (organised by ICD-10 code)

We used a three-level hierarchical classification of causes of death as used by the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study.¹⁶ We studied all Level 2 non-communicable disease outcomes and selected Level 3 outcomes that were either common causes of death in the UK or were a priori expected to have important associations with BMI. 5-year exclusion period applied for person-time and events after a BMI record; estimates adjusted for age, deprivation, calendar year, diabetes, alcohol status (all as defined at date of BMI measure) and stratified for sex. HR=hazard ratio. ICD-10=International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision.