Body mass index and premature mortality in physically heavily working men--a ten-year follow-up of 20,000 construction workers.

Objective: Although obesity is clearly associated with diabetes and cardiovascular disease, health consequences of being mildly or moderately overweight are less clear in physically heavily working men.

Methods: The association between body mass index (BMI) and mortality was assessed over a 10-year period in a cohort of 19,513 male construction workers, who underwent routine occupational health examination during 1986 to 1992.

Results: Among never smokers normal and overweight men experienced similar mortality.