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Waist circumference (WC), as a measure of central adiposity, is associated with insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, and coronary heart disease, as well as shorter life span. The association with shorter life span independent of body-mass index (BMI) also has been shown in most studies, but the specific relation between WC and BMI, especially for large WC, is less clear.
Data from a large national longitudinal nutrition study were used to identify about 105,000 adults (age, ≥50; nearly all white). Between 1997 and 2006, about 15,000 of them died. In analyses adjusted for several demographic and lifestyle risk factors (e.g., age, smoking status) as well as for BMI, risk for all-cause mortality was associated strongly wi…