Young women who are overweight at the age of 18 have a higher risk of dying young, but medication and behavior therapy can help young people lose weight, U.S. researchers reported Monday.
A study of 102,400 female nurses showed that women who were overweight or obese when 18 drank more alcohol, smoked more and were less likely to exercise as teens — and were also more likely to die between the ages of 36 and 56.
The more a women weighed at 18, the greater her risk of dying young, the researchers reported in Monday's issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. Women who were moderately overweight at 18 were more than 50 percent more likely to die in the 12 years of follow-up, and obese women were more than twice as likely to die as the slimmest 18-year-olds.
"This paper underscores the importance of efforts to prevent excessive weight gain in children, not only to prevent obesity but also to prevent moderate overweight (people)," said Frank Hu of the Harvard School of Public Health, who worked on the study.
The women died of various causes — 258 died of cancer, 55 of heart disease or stroke and 61 committed suicide.
Even women who had never smoked were more likely to die if they were overweight as 18-year-olds, the researchers found.
Teen weight loss
However, a second study found it is possible to help youngsters lose weight using behavior therapy and the prescription drug sibutramine.
Dr. Robert Berkowitz of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and colleagues tested 498 obese youngsters aged 12 to 16.
Those given sibutramine, marketed by Abbott Laboratories as Meridia, lost more weight, the researchers reported in a second paper in Annals.
On average, the children who got the drug plus behavior therapy lost 18 pounds more compared to children who received behavioral therapy alone. On average, adolescents in the study who took a sugar pill gained four pounds over the year.
The teens who got the drug also ended up with healthier levels of cholesterol and blood sugar, according to the study, paid for by Abbott. There was a side-effect, however — tachycardia, or rapid heartbeat.
"At the end of a year of treatment, one third of the adolescents who received medication were no longer severely overweight, and out of six who were treated dropped below the standard definition of being overweight," Berkowitz said in a statement.
In March, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration staff report recommended against approving Meridia for use in children because there was so little information about its safety.
