ArticleBMC public health2014
Mortality risk associated with underweight: a census-linked cohort of 31,578 individuals with up to 32 years of follow-up.
Article in BMC public health, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 57 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
57 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 101 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association Between Body Mass Index and Dental Caries Severity in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International dental journal · 2026Pooled it
- Impact of underweight status on mortality in sepsis patients: a meta-analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Determining a global mid-upper arm circumference cut-off to assess underweight in adults (men and non-pregnant women).Public health nutrition · 2020Pooled it
- Investigating associations between allostatic load phenotypes and clinical impairment in youth with chronic pain.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- Body Mass Index and Risks of More Than 40 Cause-Specific Mortality in Chinese Women: A Prospective Cohort Study.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2026Article
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- Gender-Specific Depression-Anxiety Symptom Networks and the Impact of Weight Status: Insights From a Large-Scale Study.PsyCh journal · 2026Article
- Epigenetic indicators of body mass predict survival outcomes in colorectal cancer patients: patient cohort analysis.Genome medicine · 2026Article
- Age and Gender Differences in the Association Between Risk Aversion and Risky Health Behaviors: Evidence from a Survey Experiment.Risk management and healthcare policy · 2026Article
- Insights Into Stroke Risk and Prediction for Underweight Individuals.Neurosciences (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) · 2026Review
- Homeostasis of glucose and lipid metabolism during physiological responses to a simulated hypoxic high altitude environment.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Machine Learning for Predicting Postoperative Functional Disability and Mortality Among Older Patients With Cancer: Retrospective Cohort Study.JMIR aging · 2025Article
- Persistent body-weight change on achalasia and peroral endoscopic myotomy: a multicenter cohort study.Journal of gastroenterology · 2025Observational
- In-hospital mortality of heat-related disease associated with wet bulb globe temperature: a Japanese nationwide inpatient data analysis.International journal of biometeorology · 2025Article
- Exploring Attachment Dimensions in Individuals with Overweight or Obesity.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Clinical and sociodemographic determinants of older breast cancer survivors' reports of receiving advice about exercise.Breast cancer research and treatment · 2024Article
- Article
- Obesity, psychological well-being related measures, and risk of seven non-communicable diseases: evidence from longitudinal studies of UK and US older adults.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2024Article
- Demographic, health, physical activity, and workplace factors are associated with lower healthy working life expectancy and life expectancy at age 50.Scientific reports · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn contrast to obesity, information on the health risks of underweight is sparse. We examined the long-term association between underweight and mortality by considering factors possibly influencing this relationship.
methodsWe included 31,578 individuals aged 25-74 years, who participated in population based health studies between 1977 and 1993 and were followed-up for survival until 2008 by record linkage with the Swiss National Cohort (SNC). Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated from measured (53% of study population) or self-reported height and weight. Underweight was defined as BMI < 18.5 kg/m2. Cox regression models were used to determine mortality Hazard Ratios (HR) of underweight vs. normal weight (BMI 18.5- < 25.0 kg/m2). Covariates were study, sex, smoking, healthy eating proxy, sports frequency, and educational level.
resultsUnderweight individuals represented 3.0% of the total study population (n = 945), and were mostly women (89.9%). Compared to normal weight, underweight was associated with increased all-cause mortality (HR: 1.37; 95% CI: 1.14-1.65). Increased risk was apparent in both sexes, regardless of smoking status, and mainly driven by excess death from external causes (HR: 3.18; 1.96-5.17), but not cancer, cardiovascular or respiratory diseases. The HR were 1.16 (0.88-1.53) in studies with measured BMI and 1.59 (1.24-2.05) with self-reported BMI.
conclusionsThe increased risk of dying of underweight people was mainly due to an increased mortality risk from external causes. Using self-reported BMI may lead to an overestimation of mortality risk associated with underweight.
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