Overweight women, sudden cardiac death, and the usefulness of body mass index as a measure of health

Two recent studies examine obesity and its effect on health, drawing potentially divergent conclusions using the same standard — body mass index — as a means of determining risk for life-threatening cardiovascular disease.

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In order to help explain what these two studies might mean for people seeking an understanding of their relative risk in the face of obesity, let’s examine the studies one at a time.

According to the first study, published in November in JACC: Clinical Electrophysiology, women who were overweight at the age of 18 are more likely to die of sudden cardiac arrest at any age, regardless of their current weight.

The results of the study were publicized in The New York Times on Dec. 7, 2015.

In the second study, published online March 15, 2016 in the International Journal of Obesity, the authors called into question the practice of relying too heavily on BMI to assess heart and metabolic health.

The results of the study were publicized by UPI on Feb. 6, 2015.

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