The Effect of Obesity and Diabetes on Mortality among Older Adults in Latin America and the Caribbean: Is It a Different Phenomenon than in the U.S.?

Malena Monteverde, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Beatriz Novak, University of Wisconsin at Madison

The excess mortality due to obesity has been acknowledged and investigated in the U.S. In Latin America it also needs to be carefully analyzed because of the high prevalence and the rapid growth of obesity in the region, and because obesity and overweight are frequently combined with frail conditions among those populations. The aim of the present study is to measure mortality differentials in Latin America and the U.S.A. in terms of years of life expectancy lost, excess deaths attributable to obesity and overweight, and the relative effect (on the mortality differentials) of the main non-communicable diseases related to obesity and overweight. We used data from the Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS) and the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Our results suggest that mortality differentials between overweight or obese people are greater in Latin America than they are in the U.S.