Duration of overweight and metabolic health risk in American men and women.

To investigate the association between overweight duration and metabolic health risk. Subjects consisted of 4,874 participants, aged 30 to 64 years, from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Duration of overweight was determined from recalled weights from 10 years prior to the survey. Metabolic health risk was determined from a fasting blood sample and blood pressure measurements. After adjusting for current body mass index, the relative odds for obesity-related comorbidities were not higher in men who had been overweight for < 10 years compared with men with a normal weight. However, the likelihood [odds ratios (95% confidence intervals)] of hypertriglyceridemia [2.39 (1.34-4.27)] and the metabolic syndrome [2.15 (1.01-4.57)] were increased in men who had been overweight for > or = 10 years compared with normal weight men. In women there was a graded increase (p < 0.001) in the likelihood of numerous metabolic disorders when moving from the normal weight to overweight < 10 year to overweight > or = 10 year categories. The duration of overweight has a significant effect on obesity-related comorbidities in men and women.