Comorbidity associated with obesity in a large population: The APNA study.

Background: Overweight and obesity are major causes of comorbidities which can lead to further morbidity and mortality. The main objective of the present study was to estimate the comorbidity associated with obesity in 40,010 patients attending Primary Health Care Centres in Navarra.

Methods: It is a descriptive cross-sectional study. The association of overweight and obesity in different diseases was studied. Odds ratios (OR) adjusted for age and sex were calculated by unconditional logistic regression, using as reference patients with body mass index (BMI) lower than 25 kg/m(2).

Results: Increasing BMI is associated with glucose intolerance (OR: 1.07; 95% CI: 1.06-1.08), dyslipidemia (OR: 1.04; 95% CI: 1.03-1.04), hypertension (OR: 1.12; 95% CI: 1.12-1.13), type 2 diabetes (OR: 1.11; 95% CI: 1.10-1.11), kidney failure (OR: 1.04; 95% CI: 1.03-1.05), and osteoarthritis (OR: 1.06; 95% CI: 1.05-1.06). Moreover, all the degrees of obesity are associated with asthma (OR type I obesity: 1.33; OR type II obesity: 1.69; OR type III obesity: 1.75), heart failure (OR type I obesity: 1.68; OR type II obesity: 2.78; OR type III obesity: 4.35), and severe mental disorders (OR type I obesity: 2.02; OR type II obesity: 2.33; OR type III obesity: 2.50). Type II and morbid obesity are associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and depression.

Conclusion: Our study showed a positive association of the overweight and obesity with glucose intolerance, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, osteoarthritis, and kidney failure. An interesting point is the association of higher levels of BMI with depression.