body mass index

Smoking and body mass index are risk factors in the development of age-related hearing loss, says one of the largest-ever studies into risk factors for hearing loss -- but alcohol has a protective effect.

Physically active women are 25 percent less likely to get breast cancer, but certain groups are more likely to see these benefits than others, finds a review in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

The type of activity undertaken, at what time in life and the woman's body mass index (BMI) will determine how protective the activity is against the disease.

New research shows teenage girls who smoke cigarettes are no more likely to lose weight than girls who don't smoke, dispelling a commonly-held belief.

In addition, boys who smoke cigarettes show a decrease in height as well as body mass index (BMI). These findings could have important public health implications, especially since many young girls cite weight control --- or the desire to be runway model thin --- as a reason for taking up smoking.

The researchers defined "normal weight" by body mass index. They found that people with normal BMI who had the highest percentage of body fat were also those who had metabolic disturbances linked to heart disease.

Greater maternal body mass index during offspring development does not have a marked effect on offspring fat mass at ages nine to eleven years, according to a new study.

They found that both maternal and paternal BMI were positively associated with offspring fat mass but the effect of maternal BMI was greater than the effect of paternal BMI.

However, the greater effect of maternal BMI was too weak to explain the recent obesity epidemic.

Entrenched sedentary behavior such as watching television and playing computer video games has been the bane for years of parents of overweight children and physicians trying to help those children lose pounds.

Researchers now have shown in a randomized trial that by using a device that automatically restricted video-viewing time, parents reduced their children's video time by an average of 17.5 hours a week and lowered their body-mass index significantly.

Loud snoring with breathing pauses is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and increased health-care utilization.

Loud snorers had 40 percent greater odds of having hypertension, 34 percent greater odds of having a heart attack and 67 percent greater odds of having a stroke, compared with people who do not snore, after statistical adjustment for age, sex, body mass index, diabetes, level of education, smoking, and alcohol consumption.

Quiet snoring was associated only with an increased risk for hypertension in women.