All-cause mortality in metabolically healthy individuals was not predicted by overweight and obesity

BACKGROUND: Metabolically healthy obesity (MHO) and metabolically healthy overweight (MH-OW) have been suggested to be important and emerging phenotypes with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, whether MHO and MH-OW are associated with all-cause mortality remains inconsistent. METHODS: The association of MHO and MH-OW and all-cause mortality was determined in a Chinese community-based prospective cohort study (the Kailuan study), including 93,272 adults at baseline. Data were analyzed from 2006 to 2017. Participants were categorized into 6 mutually exclusive groups, according to BMI and metabolic syndrome (MetS) status. The primary outcome was all-cause death, and accidental deaths were excluded. RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 11.04 years (interquartile range, 10.74–11.22 years), 8977 deaths occurred. Compared with healthy participants with normal BMI (MH-NW), MH-OW participants had the lowest risk of all-cause mortality (multivariate-adjusted HR [aHR], 0.926; 95% CI, 0.861–0.997), whereas there was no increased or decreased risk for MHO (aHR, 1.009; 95% CI, 0.886–1.148). Stratified analyses and sensitivity analyses further validated that there was a nonsignificant association between MHO and all-cause mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Overweight and obesity do not predict increased risk of all-cause mortality in metabolic healthy Chinese individuals. FUNDING: National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC; 81673247, 81872682 and 81773527), the NSFC Joint Project, and the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC; NSFC 81561128020-NHMRC APP1112767).