ArticlePopulation studies2023
Sources and severity of bias in estimates of the BMI-mortality association.
Article in Population studies, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed.
- The Association Between Obesity Class and Cause-Specific Mortality by Age and Sex in US Adults.Clinical obesity · 2026Article
- Unpacking adiposity: a narrative critical appraisal of diverse obesity definitions.Diabetology & metabolic syndrome · 2026Review
- Infections in Infancy and Association with Long-Term Weight Gain and Obesity in Children, Southern California, USA.Emerging infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Rising obesity and shifting disease patterns in Saudi Arabia: a nine-year population-based analysis of chronic disease burden and multimorbidity profiles.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Adult weight change across the life course and cardiovascular disease prevalence and mortality: a population-based study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Central Adiposity Assessed with Body Roundness Index and Mortality: The Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra Prospective Cohort.Geriatrics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Biomarkers of aging: from molecules and surrogates to physiology and function.Physiological reviews · 2025Review
- Intentional Weight Loss, Waist Circumference Reduction, and Mortality Risk Among Postmenopausal Women.JAMA network open · 2025Observational
- Body mass index trajectories and mortality risk in Japan using a population-based prospective cohort study: the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study.International journal of epidemiology · 2024Article
- Beyond Plants: The Ultra-Processing of Global Diets Is Harming the Health of People, Places, and Planet.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- The Founder: Dispositional Greed, Showbiz, and the Commercial Determinants of Health.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
Abstract
Estimates of mortality differences by body mass index (BMI) are likely biased by: (1) confounding bias from heterogeneity in body shape; (2) positive survival bias in high-BMI samples due to recent weight gain; and (3) negative survival bias in low-BMI samples due to recent weight loss. I investigate these sources of bias in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1988-94 and 1999-2006 linked to mortality up to 2015 (17,784 cases; 4,468 deaths). I use Cox survival models to estimate BMI differences in all-cause mortality risks among adults aged [45-85) in the United States. I test for age-based differences in BMI-mortality associations and estimate functional forms of the association using nine BMI levels. Estimates of the BMI-mortality association in NHANES data are significantly affected by all three biases, and obesity-mortality associations adjusted for bias are substantively strong at all ages. The mortality consequences of overweight and obesity have likely been underestimated, especially at older ages.
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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.