ArticleJournal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle2019
Flawed methods and inappropriate conclusions for health policy on overweight and obesity: the Global BMI Mortality Collaboration meta-analysis.
Article in Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- Device-measured physical activity, adiposity and mortality: a harmonised meta-analysis of eight prospective cohort studies.British journal of sports medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Association of Eating Window With Mortality Among US Adults: Insights From a Nationally Representative Study.Aging cell · 2025Article
- Article
- Low body mass index is associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes following PCI in India: ACC-NCDR registry.International journal of cardiology. Cardiovascular risk and prevention · 2024Article
- Critical analyses of Latina mortality: disentangling the heterogeneity of ethnic origin, place, nativity, race, and socioeconomic status.BMC public health · 2024Review
- Is waist-calf circumference ratio associated with frailty in older adults? Findings from a cohort study.BMC geriatrics · 2023Article
- Body composition and mortality from middle to old age: a prospective cohort study from the UK Biobank.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2023Article
- Sources and severity of bias in estimates of the BMI-mortality association.Population studies · 2023Article
- Do Body Mass Index and Nutritional Risk Score 2002 Influence the In-Hospital Mortality of Patients Following Cardiac Arrest?Nutrients · 2023Article
- Body mass index trajectories and mortality in community-dwelling older adults: population-based cohort study.BMJ open · 2022Article
- The Role of Physical Activity Status in the Relationship between Obesity and Carotid Intima-Media Thickness (CIMT) in Urban South African Teachers: The SABPA Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Article
- Association of body mass index and waist circumference with high blood pressure in older adults.BMC geriatrics · 2021Article
- Fitness, Fatness, and Mortality in Men and Women From the UK Biobank: Prospective Cohort Study.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2021Article
- Impact of Body Mass Index on the Mortality of Critically Ill Patients Admitted to the Intensive Care Unit: An Observational Study.Anesthesiology and pain medicine · 2021Article
- Matrix Gla protein regulates adipogenesis and is serum marker of visceral adiposity.Adipocyte · 2020Article
- Recognizing obesity as a disease: A true challenge.Revista clinica espanola · 2020Article
- Nutrition in times of Covid-19, how to trust the deluge of scientific information.Current opinion in clinical nutrition and metabolic care · 2020Review
- Is obesity a disease?-the evolving concepts, cancer paradox and association with improved cancer immunotherapy efficacy.Hepatobiliary surgery and nutrition · 2020Article
- Accelerometer-measured physical activity and sedentary time in a cohort of US adults followed for up to 13 years: the influence of removing early follow-up on associations with mortality.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
- Comment on
Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Guideline recommendations and health policy decisions rely on evidence from clinical and epidemiological studies. Adequate methodology and appropriate conclusions are essential to support healthcare and health policy decisions. An analysis of body mass index and mortality by the Global BMI Mortality Collaboration (GBMC) concluded that the association of excess body weight with higher mortality was similar worldwide and that overweight and obesity should be combated everywhere. To reach this conclusion, the GBMC used highly selected data, rather than a systematic approach. The GBMC initially chose individual participant data from 239 prospective studies with approximately 10.6 million participants. The GBMC then excluded over 60% of data and over 75% of fatal events by eliminating all cases with any reported disease at baseline or smoking history and all events within the first 5 years of follow-up. After applying these restrictions, the association of overweight with lower mortality was reversed and the association of obesity with higher mortality was increased. Given the major flaws in the selection process, in the adequacy of the data, in the data analysis, and in the interpretation, the GBMC conclusions should be viewed sceptically as a guide to action, either for clinical decisions or for public health in general. The flawed conclusion that overweight is uniformly associated with substantially increased risk of death and thus should be combated in any circumstances may lead not only to unjustified treatment efforts and potential harm in a wide range of clinical conditions but also to a tremendous waste of resources.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.