Body-mass index, blood pressure, and cause-specific mortality in India: a prospective cohort study of 500  810 adults

Publication date: July 2018 Source:The Lancet Global Health, Volume 6, Issue 7 Author(s): Vendhan Gajalakshmi, Ben Lacey, Vendhan Kanimozhi, Paul Sherliker, Richard Peto, Sarah Lewington Background The association between cause-specific mortality and body-mass index (BMI) has been studied mainly in high-income countries. We investigated the relations between BMI, systolic blood pressure, and mortality in India. Methods Men and women aged 35 years or older were recruited into a prospective study from the general population in Chennai, India between Jan 1, 1998, and Dec 31, 2001. Participants were interviewed (data collected included age, sex, education, socioeconomic status, medical history, tobacco smoking, and alcohol intake) and measured (height, weight, and blood pressure). Deaths were identified by linkage to Chennai city mortality records and through active surveillance by household visits from trained graduate non-medical fieldworkers. After the baseline survey, households were visited once in 2002–05, then biennially until 2015. During these repeat visits, structured narratives of any deaths that took place before March 31, 2015, were recorded for physician coding. During 2013–14, a random sample of participants was also resurveyed as per baseline to assess long-term variability in systolic blood pressure and BMI. Cox regression (standardised for tobacco, alcohol, and social factors) was used to relate mortality rate ratios (RRs) at ages 35–69 years to s...
Source: The Lancet Global Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research