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Between the two, only slight discrepancy was noted in reduction of quality-of-life years, study says
At present, threat to the quality of life of Americans posed by obesity is as enormous as that of smoking, according to a new study.
Data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, gathered from 1993 through 2008 were reviewed by a team of researchers at Columbia University and The City College of New York. The analysis of these data, which included interviews with over 3.5 million American adults, revealed that the quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) lost due to obesity are the same as, or greater than those lost due to smoking.
From the year 1993 to 2008, the number of adult smokers dropped 18.5 percent and loss of QALYs because of smoking showed relative stability at 0.0438 QALYs lost for every population. Over that same period of time, the incidence of obesity in Americans increased 85 percent, leading to the loss of 0.0464 QALYs. The researchers found that whereas smoking had a more tremendous impact on mortality rates, obesity had a greater effect on disease.
In their report, the researchers wrote that while life expectancy as well as quality-adjusted life expectancy have gone up over the course of time, "the increase in the contribution of mortality to QALYs lost from obesity may result in a decline in future life expectancy. Such data are essential in setting targets for reducing modifiable health risks and eliminating health disparities."
The new study appears in the February issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Another newly conducted study had the conclusion that if the incidence of both smoking and obesity in the United States will not change, there will be a reduction of nearly nine months in the life expectancy in the country. That study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, dated Dec. 3.
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