Peter Raphael Simon, Nagel Gabriele
Institute of Epidemiology and Medical Biometry, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany.
Institute of Epidemiology and Medical Biometry, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany; Agency for Preventive and Social Medicine, Bregenz, Austria.
J Epidemiol. 2017 Jun;27(6):294-297. doi: 10.1016/j.je.2016.06.007. Epub 2017 Feb 28.
To date, the amount of heterogeneity among studies of the body mass index-mortality association attributable to differences in the age distribution and length of follow-up has not been quantified. Therefore, we wanted to quantify the amount of heterogeneity attributable to age and follow-up in results of studies on the body mass index-mortality relation.
We used optima of the body mass index mortality association reported for 30 populations and performed meta-regression to estimate the amount of heterogeneity attributable to sex, ethnicity, mean age at baseline, percentage smokers, and length of follow-up.
Ethnicity as single factor accounted for 36% (95% CI, 11-56%) of heterogeneity. Mean age and length of follow-up had an interactive effect and together accounted for 56% (95% CI, 24-74%) of the remaining heterogeneity. Sex did not significantly contribute to the heterogeneity, after controlling for ethnicity, age, and length of follow-up.
A considerable amount of heterogeneity in studies of the body mass index-mortality association is attributable to ethnicity, age, and length of follow-up.
迄今为止，由于年龄分布和随访时间的差异，体重指数与死亡率关联研究之间的异质性程度尚未得到量化。因此，我们想要量化体重指数与死亡率关系研究结果中归因于年龄和随访的异质性程度。
我们采用了针对30个人群报告的体重指数死亡率关联的最佳值，并进行了元回归，以估计归因于性别、种族、基线平均年龄、吸烟者百分比和随访时间的异质性程度。
种族作为单一因素占异质性的36%（95%置信区间，11 - 56%）。平均年龄和随访时间具有交互作用，共同占剩余异质性的56%（95%置信区间，24 - 74%）。在控制了种族、年龄和随访时间后，性别对异质性没有显著贡献。
体重指数与死亡率关联研究中的相当一部分异质性可归因于种族、年龄和随访时间。
