Obesity contributes to 86 per cent of long-term health conditions, claim the authors of a new paper investigating the link between weight and chronic illnesses.
In the largest study-of-its-kind, researchers found excess weight is the ‘major driving force’ between commonly occurring and potentially life-threatening conditions including chronic kidney diseases, osteoarthritis and diabetes.
A team based out of the University of Exeter analysed 71 different conditions that typically occur together, such as Type 2 diabetes and osteoarthritis, with the aim of seeing if obesity was a risk factor.
The researchers used the genetic and healthcare data of thousands of people who had taken part in previous studies and found that obesity – defined as a body mass index (BMI) of over 30 – contributed to 61 of the 71 combinations, roughly 86 per cent.
They found that for every 1,000 people with chronic kidney disease and osteoarthritis, lowering BMI by 4.5 points could prevent about 17 people from developing both conditions.
The same BMI reduction could also prevent about 9 people per 1,000 from developing type 2 diabetes and osteoarthritis.
They also found that obesity explained all of the genetic overlap in ten pairs of conditions, suggesting that excess weight is the main driver for why they occur together.
The pairs included chronic kidney disease and a group of lung conditions known as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); gout and sleep apnoea; kidney disease and osteoarthritis and type 2 diabetes.
Experts say losing weight and lowering BMI by just 4.5 points could slash the risk of comorbid conditions
Professor Jack Bowden, a biomedical data scientist and study lead, said: ‘We’ve long known that certain diseases often occur together, and also that obesity increases the risk of many diseases.
‘This large-scale study is the first to use genetics to quantify the role of obesity in causing diseases to occur in the same individuals.
‘We found that for some disease pairings, obesity is the major driving force. Our research provides much more detail about the links between obesity and disease, which will help clinicians target specific advice to patients going forward.’
The team also established the pairs of conditions where obesity is not the main cause and are now investigating other possible causes
Experts said their findings, published in Communications Medicine, strengthen the case to tackle obesity through public health programmes and could slash the risk of accumulating multiple health conditions.
The team added that this research should reinforce the importance of weight management on the NHS, with obesity already estimated to cost the country around £100bn a year, including £19bn in NHS costs.
However, there were some limitations. Firstly, the data used was from primarily northern European people, and it didn’t take into account lifestyle factors which are known causes of obesity.
Currently, at least nine million people in the UK live with two or more long-term conditions – which could be prevented by losing weight.
Professor Jane Masoli, a consultant geriatrician and regional NIHR Ageing lead, added: ‘Understanding how to prevent diseases accumulating is a key national research and healthcare priority.
‘This study further strengthens the case to tackle obesity through public health programmes, reinforcing the importance of lifelong obesity management in the NHS strategy on prevention.
‘Our work shows that this could reduce the risk of accumulating multiple health conditions, supporting people to live longer, healthier lives.’
It comes as experts have warned that as many as nine million are at heightened risk of heart attack, stroke and kidney failure because they’re living with cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome – which linked heart disease, chronic kidney disease, type 2 diabetes and obesity.
When these conditions occur together, they dramatically accelerate damage to the heart, blood vessels and kidneys.
Yet CKM does not have formal status within the NHS. Instead, patients are typically treated for each illness separately – a fragmented approach clinicians say leaves people unaware of their true level of risk and delays potentially life-saving intervention.
Estimates suggest a further 40 million adults could go on to develop the syndrome in the coming years.
