Body weight loss has been implicated with higher all-cause and increased possibility of cancer, cardiovascular diseases (CVD), and other fatal conditions (disease-specific mortality), elucidates a research comprising healthy older adults. Sultana Monira Hussain et al. performed a post hoc analysis of data from the Aspirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) clinical trial to study the possible link between changes in body weight and waist circumference with mortality (all-cause, cancer-specific, CVD-specific, and non-cancer non-CVD–specific mortality).

Healthy community-based older adults were included (16703 Australian participants aged ≥70 years and 2411 US participants aged ≥65 years) without apparent CVD, dementia, physical limitation, or chronic disease. Body weight and circumference of the waist were calculated at starting and visit 2 (after 12 months). Analysis models were attuned to body mass index (BMI) at the start. Both body weight and waist circumference changes (body-size indices) were divided into different categories. The expert review panel adjudicated the mortality events. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CI were calculated via the Cox regression and competing risk analyses.

Overall, 1256 casualties were perceived over a mean (Standard deviation) of 4.4 (1.7) years among 16523 study participants. Compared with males and females with stable weight, those with weight loss had an elevated risk of all-cause mortality, detailed in the following Table 1:

Weight loss was associated with higher cancer-specific mortality, CVD-specific mortality and non-cancer non-CVD-specific mortality (details in Table 2).

Mortality was also linked with waist circumference reduction. Hence, doctors should be informed of the importance of body weight loss, particularly in elder males. Weight monitoring can help avoid life-threatening complications in elders.