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Article Summary: The women, who were aged 24 to 44 at the start of the study, were asked to recall their weight when they were 18 years old.
Adolescent Obesity Linked To Premature Death
Teenage girls who are obese run a three-fold greater risk of premature death in middle age, according to a new study in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
"This study underscores the importance of childhood obesity," said lead researcher Dr. Frank B. Hu, an associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. "Childhood obesity not only has health consequences for children, but increases the risk for death in adulthood."
But another report, also in the July 18 issue of the journal, found that the diet drug sibutramine -- brand-named Meridia -- along with behavior therapy, helps very obese adolescents lose weight. That study was funded by the makers of Meridia, Abbott Laboratories, Inc.
That finding could prove valuable in the United States, where 15.5 percent of teens are overweight.
In the first study, Hu's team found a link between teenage obesity and premature death among 102,400 women enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study II. The women, who were aged 24 to 44 at the start of the study, were asked to recall their weight when they were 18 years old. During 12 years of follow-up, 710 of the women died. Read more at healthfinder.gov
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