Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37022778›Full record

ArticleJournal of global health2023

How does obesity affect mortality through blood pressure and blood glucose in Chinese and US citizens? Insights from a causal mediation analysis of two large cohorts.

Qi Huang, Xiantong Zou, Pei Gao, Xueyao Han, Xianghai Zhou, Linong Ji

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of global health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
3.5field-weighted citation impact, top 8% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 6 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Depicting patient-reported outcome measures within directed acyclic graphs: practice and implications for causal reasoning.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Qi Huang *Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China.
Xiantong Zou *Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China.
Pei GaoDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing, China.
Xueyao HanDepartment of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China.
Xianghai ZhouDepartment of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China.
Linong JiDepartment of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China.
Peking University · CNPeking University People's Hospital · CN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Obesity, which has reached the scale of a global pandemic, is a leading cause of premature death. It is unclear to what extent its effect on mortality was driven by blood pressure or glucose levels in people of different ethnicities. Methods: We conducted a causal mediation analysis to estimate the mediation effect of blood pressure and glucose between body mass index (BMI) or waist-hip ratio (WHR) on mortality based on data from the China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB) (n = 458 385) and US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) (1999-2008, n = 20 726). Results: The WHR's effect on mortality was mediated by blood pressure and glucose in the CKB data set by 38.7% (95% confidence interval (CI) = 34.1, 43.2) and 36.4% (95% CI = 31.6, 42.8), whereas in NHANES by 6.0% (95% CI = 2.3, 8.3) and 11.2% (95% CI = 4.7, 22.7), respectively. For associations between BMI and mortality in subjects with overweight or obesity, the mediator proportion of blood glucose and pressure was 49.4% (95% CI = 40.1, 62.5) and 16.9% (95% CI = 13.6, 22.9) in CKB and 9.10% (95% CI = 2.2, 25.9) and 16.7% (95% CI = 7.3, 49.0) in NHANES, respectively. We stratified the patients by their blood glucose, blood pressure level, or both into four groups. The effect of WHR on mortality was comparable across subgroups in either cohort. The associations between BMI and mortality were stronger in patients with higher blood pressure in CKB (P = 0.011) and blood glucose in NHANES (P = 0.035) in patients with overweight and obesity. Conclusions: The relationship between WHR and mortality in the CKB data set was potentially caused by blood pressure and glucose to a much greater extent than in the NHANES one. The effect of BMI influenced by blood pressure was significantly higher among Chinese individuals with overweight and obesity. These results implicate a different intervention strategy is required for blood pressure and blood glucose in China and US to prevent obesity and obesity-related premature death.

Indexed as

Blood GlucoseBlood PressureObesityBody Mass IndexChinaCohort StudiesEast Asian PeopleHumansMediation AnalysisNutrition SurveysOverweightRisk FactorsUnited StatesWaist-Hip RatioBlood Glucose

Identifiers

PMID37022778
PMCPMC10078858
OpenAlexW4362657343

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

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.