Body mass index and premature mortality in physically heavily working men--a ten-year follow-up of 20,000 construction workers.

OBJECTIVE

Although obesity is clearly associated with diabetes and cardiovascular disease, health consequences of being mildly or moderately overweight are less clear in physically heavily working men.

METHODS

The association between body mass index (BMI) and mortality was assessed over a 10-year period in a cohort of 19,513 male construction workers, who underwent routine occupational health examination during 1986 to 1992.

RESULTS

Among never smokers normal and overweight men experienced similar mortality. Among smokers, we observed a strong U-shaped association between BMI and all-cause mortality, which was lowest for BMI levels between 25 and 35 kg/m after control for potential covariates.

CONCLUSIONS

BMI levels commonly considered to reflect overweight may not necessarily be associated with increased mortality in physically heavily working men.