News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Life expectancy rise in rich countries slows down: took 30 years to prove. Parent comment

Re:Life expectancy rise in rich countries slows down: took 3... by pwillia7 on Wednesday October 16, 2024 @10:56AM (#41859800)
How do they even pretend that works when some South Asians are shorter and the Danes are so large? Are the Danish just 100% obese?

This says it's <20% there[1][2]

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Average_human_height_by_countr...

2: https://academic.oup.com/eurpub/article/33/3/463/7058153

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Life expectancy rise in rich countries slows down: took 3... by s1artibartfast on Wednesday October 16, 2024 @11:31AM (#41860254)
Height is factored in, albeit in a very simple way
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Life expectancy rise in rich countries slows down: took 3... by lolinder on Wednesday October 16, 2024 @11:52AM (#41860545)
Yeah, it's not height itself that's the problem, it's body shape. As just one example: some people have long torsos and short legs, others long legs and short torsos. Those two groups will have wildly different BMI curves even at similar health levels.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Life expectancy rise in rich countries slows down: took 3... by s1artibartfast on Wednesday October 16, 2024 @01:41PM (#41861682)
BMI is a very crude measure. It is only useful in the extreme, and not particularly relevant for an individual. If you have a BMI of 40 you should think about losing weight, but exactly nobody need a composite number to know they are that fat. Similarly, you might have a normal BMI but an LDL of 300 or a strange lump on your thyroid. These things are vastly more important than your BMI
[ Parent | on HN ]