Research
Hormonal
Experiencing weight discrimination is associated with a 60% increased risk of all-cause mortality, independent of BMI.
Recognize that social stress, including discrimination based on weight, has a measurable impact on longevity and health, independent of body weight. Reducing stigma and discrimination is a public health priority for improving mortality rates.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Across both the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study including 13,692 older adults and the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study including 5079 adults, people who reported experiencing weight discrimination had a 60% increased risk of dying, independent of BMI
Why this rating
Based on large, nationally representative longitudinal studies (HRS, MIDUS).
Source
How and why weight stigma drives the obesity ‘epidemic’ and harms health
A. Janet Tomiyama et al. · BMC Medicine · 2018
DOI 10.1186/s12916-018-1116-5
narrative_reviewCited 681×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Experiencing weight stigma prospectively causes weight gain and increased risk of obesity, independent of baseline BMI, through obesogenic behavioral and physiological pathways.Good
- Weight stigma in healthcare settings leads to poorer quality of care, delayed medical attention, and worse health outcomes for patients with obesity.Good
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