Weight and thirty-year mortality of men in the Framingham Study.

Data from 30 years of biennial examinations and mortality information on the men who participated in the Framingham Study were analyzed to explore the relation between relative weight and longevity. Metropolitan Relative Weight, as measured at the baseline examination, was strongly related to mortality in the subsequent 30 years, with men weighing between 100% and 109% having minimum mortality. In addition, interim relative weights were related to death in the next 2-year period by cross-sectional pooling analysis. Multivariate analysis showed a strong positive relationship between baseline relative weight and death occurring in any interval, despite an inverse relation between interim weight and death. Overweight (weight greater than 110%) nonsmoking men in the Framingham Study had 30-year mortality rates up to 3.9 higher than men of desirable weight (weight, 100% to 109%). No evidence was seen that weight gains during middle age increased longevity or that desirable weights increased with age.