High BMI associated with increased risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease in postmenopausal women, according to UCI-led study

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Despite the common understanding that most women gain weight after menopause, a recent study led by researchers from the University of California, Irvine, found limited evidence of body mass index or BMI change in a large sample of postmenopausal women. They did, however, find a clear relationship between high BMI and higher likelihood of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Results were published in the journal Annals of Epidemiology.

The study, led by corresponding author Luohua Jiang, MD, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at UCI Public Health, produced growth mixture models using data from over 68,000 participants pulled from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) clinical trials to investigate the association of BMI trajectories over 10 years with future risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Their models showed that the risk of both conditions increased with higher BMI, and that women in moderate-high and very high BMI trajectories were at higher risk compared to those in the lowest trajectory group.

“Past studies have generally relied on self-reported data at a single time point to assess the relationship between BMI and different negative health outcomes. But this isn’t always accurate,” Jiang explained. “By harnessing the power of repeatedly measured body height and weight at clinic visits and growth mixture modeling, our study was able to draw meaningful conclusions from large datasets.”

Results from the study underscore the importance of further research on the adverse health effects of BMI in older women. Further, studying BMI trajectories over time using growth mixture modeling highlights the added value of this type of person-centered approach in guiding precision medicine, where everyone’s risk profile is more accurately predicted using their latent class of longitudinal weight change patterns.

“Even though we found a lack of change in women’s BMI after menopause, it’s still important for researchers and clinicians to consider high BMI as a risk factor for diabetes and cardiovascular disease,” Jiang said. “Older women with high BMI should be counseled with effective interventions to lower BMI to reduce their risk of developing chronic disease.”