Sex-specific associations between body mass index and death before life expectancy: a comparative study from the USA and Sweden

Figures & data

Table 1. Demographic Characteristics of Subjects, Sweden and USA.

	Sweden	USA
Total number of subjects	60,600	31,198
Males	28,947 (47.8%)	14,884 (47.7%)
Females	31,653 (52.2%)	16,314 (52.3%)
Age at enrollment, mean (SD)	46.6 (9.9)	44.4 (9.0)
Education
Less than University	46,211 (77.4%)	23,020 (74.3%)
University	13,513 (22.6%)	7,975 (25.7%)
Current smoking
Nonsmoker	49,958 (82.4%)	21,703 (71.4%)
Smoker	10,642 (17.6%)	8,715 (28.7%)
Body mass index, kg/m^2, mean (SD)	25.6 (9.9)	27.3 (5.5)
BMI stratum
18.5–24.9	30,181 (49.8%)	11,997 (38.5%)
25.0–29.9	23,347 (38.5%)	11,533 (37.0%)
30.0–34.9	5,635 (9.3%)	5,096 (16.3%)
35.0+	1,437 (2.4%)	2,572 (8.2%)

Table 2. Distribution of BMI Strata by Country and Sex, Mean BMI (kg/m²) Within Each Stratum, and Number of Premature Deaths (Due to All Causes and Circulatory Causes).

	Sweden				USA
	N (%)	Mean BMI	All-cause deaths, N (%)	Circulatory deaths, N (%)	N (%)	Mean BMI	All-cause deaths, N (%)	Circulatory deaths, N (%)
MALES BMI (kg/m^2)
18.5–24.9	12,445 (43.0)	23.0	525 (4.2)	121 (1.0)	3,627 (24.4)	23.3	192 (5.3)	38 (1.0)
25.0–29.9	13,444 (46.4)	27.0	669 (5.0)	235 (1.7)	7,102 (47.7)	27.3	313 (4.4)	102 (1.4)
30.0–34.9	2,613 (9.0)	31.7	191 (7.3)	81 (3.1)	3,017 (20.3)	32.0	145 (4.8)	55 (1.8)
35.0+	445 (1.5)	38.7	51 (11.5)	20 (4.5)	1,138 (7.7)	39.5	81 (7.1)	34 (3.0)
FEMALES BMI (kg/m^2)
18.5–24.9	17,736 (56.0)	22.4	603 (3.4)	78 (0.4)	8,370 (51.3)	22.1	213 (2.5)	37 (0.4)
25.0–29.9	9,903 (31.3)	27.0	373 (3.8)	56 (0.6)	4,431 (27.2)	27.2	160 (3.6)	27 (0.6)
30.0–34.9	3,022 (9.6)	31.9	149 (4.9)	25 (0.8)	2,079 (12.7)	32.2	80 (3.8)	24 (1.2)
35.0+	992 (3.1)	38.4	53 (5.3)	14 (1.4)	1,434 (8.8)	40.4	75 (5.2)	21 (1.5)

Figure 1. Hazard ratio gradient across BMI strata for (a) males and (b) females. Solid lines indicate hazard ratios for all-cause premature death; dotted lines indicate hazard ratios for premature circulatory death. Shaded labels indicate p < 0.05 relative to BMI = 18.5–24.9.

Figure 2. Incidence density of premature death (per 100,000 person-years) across BMI strata for (a) male nonsmokers and (b) female nonsmokers. Solid lines depict all-cause premature death, and dotted lines depict premature circulatory death.