Obesity is a killer for non-smoking women

Obesity is an important contributor to premature death in women who have never smoked, especially among women in low income groups, according to research published on BMJ.com. While established research has shown clearly that smoking is linked to premature death and health inequalities, it is not known which causes of death are related to the social position of women who have never smoked, says the paper. To investigate this area further, the authors led by Laurence Gruer from NHS Health Scotland and Carole Hart from the Centre for Population & Health Sciences at the University of Glasgow, reviewed the cases of 3613 women who had never smoked. These women participated in a study of over 15,000 adults who were recruited in Scotland between 1972 and 1976 when aged 45-64 and have been followed up until death. Gruer and colleagues grouped the participants by occupational class (1 & 2, 3 non manual, 3 manual, and 4 & 5) and by weight (normal weight, overweight, moderately obese and severely obese). During the follow-up period of 28 years, half of the women died, including 916 (51%) from diseases of the heart and circulation and 487 (27%) from cancer. The results show that women in the lower occupational groups were more likely to die of diseases of the heart and circulation, but not cancer.