Body-mass index and all-cause mortality: individual-participant-data meta-analysis of 239 prospective studies in four continents

BackgroundOverweight and obesity are increasing worldwide. To help assess their relevance to mortality in different populations we conducted individual-participant data meta-analyses of prospective studies of body-mass index (BMI), limiting confounding and reverse causality by restricting analyses to never-smokers and excluding pre-existing disease and the first 5 years of follow-up.MethodsOf 10 625 411 participants in Asia, Australia and New...