Posted on 03/28/2002 7:39:41 AM PST by Paradox
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Obese people more likely to die in car crashes |
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| 09:30 30 March 02 | |
| Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition | |
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Heavier people are more likely to be killed or seriously injured in car accidents than lighter people, according to new research. That could mean car designers will have to build in new safety features to compensate for the extra hazards facing overweight passengers. In the US, car manufacturers have already had to redesign air bags so they inflate to lower pressures, making them less of a danger to smaller women and children. But no one yet knows what it is that puts overweight passengers at extra risk.
A study carried out in Seattle, Washington, looked at more than 26,000 people who had been involved in car crashes, and found that heavier people were at far more risk. People weighing between 100 and 119 kilograms are almost two-and-a-half times as likely to die in a crash as people weighing less than 60 kilograms.
And importantly, the same trend held up when the researchers looked at body mass index (BMI) - a measure that takes height as well as weight into account. Someone 1.8 metres tall weighing 126 kilograms would have a BMI of 39, but so would a person 1.5 metres tall weighing 88 kilograms. People are said to be obese if their BMI is 30 or over.
The study found that people with a BMI of 35 to 39 are over twice as likely to die in a crash compared with people with BMIs of about 20. It is not just total weight, but obesity itself that's dangerous.
While they do not yet know why this is the case, the evidence is worth pursuing, says Charles Mock, a surgeon and epidemiologist at the Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center in Seattle, who led the research team. He thinks one answer may be for safety authorities to use heavier crash-test dummies when certifying cars as safe to drive.
Crash tests normally use dummies that represent standard-sized males weighing about 78 kilograms. Recently, smaller crash-test dummies have also been used to represent children inside crashing cars. But larger and heavier dummies are not used, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in Washington DC told New Scientist.
The reasons for the higher injury and death rates are far from clear. Mock speculates that car interiors might not be suitably designed for heavy people. Or obese people, with health problems such as high blood pressure or diabetes, could be finding it tougher to recover from injury.
Richard Kent, an expert in impact biomechanics at the University of Virginia, thinks the new research has established a legitimate connection between obesity and severe injury or death. Because the research used BMI data, it has not confused taller (and therefore heavier than average) people with those who are overweight.
People who are obese might also be at risk because seat belts do not hold them as securely in a crash. "For example, a large amount of [fat] tissue between the restraint system and the bony thorax acts much like a winter coat: it introduces "slack" into the restraint system and decreases its performance," Kent says.
Journal reference: Accident Analysis and Prevention (vol 34, p 221)
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Kurt Kleiner |
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As a nurse, it is my opinion that the answer lies somewhere in this sentence; their obesity and the problems that come with it complicate recovery. I used to work in Neurology/Neurosurgery. It is simply much harder to care for and move the very obese - therefore, they are susceptible to a much greater degree to all the medical complications that can occur after a severe injury. Many develop pneumonia, open sores, & deadly blood clots simply because of immobility. Also, it is more difficult and complicated to extricate an obese person from a wreck. A large person who is not obese is more physically fit, they can help themselves more. This does not apply in every situation, but in enough to alter statistics.
In a short-staffed hospital or rehab center, experienced nurses begin to understand that they cannot sacrifice their own health, especially back health, to move very obese patients. If help is not available, the obese person simply does not get the treatment that requires movement, or get moved at all. There are horrendous consequences to the nursing shortage.
Everybody ready to start that diet? I recommend the Atkins plan. ;^)
Eat a carrot..Hoa!
If such were the case then the NFL would have a spat of busted up linemen loosing their guts. And some of these enormous pro westlers would be endangered.
How could Suma wrestlers survive more than one fall? Some silly stuff.
CNSNews.com | 3/28/02 | Lawrence Morahan
Posted on 3/28/02 6:28 AM Eastern by kattracks
(CNSNews.com) - Pound for pound, 16 of the best basketball players in college athletics are overweight, according to federal government standards.
College basketball stars Lonny Baxter of Maryland, Aaron McGhee of Oklahoma, Nick Collision of Kansas, and Tom Coverdale of Indiana exceed what the U.S. government considers a healthy weight for men of their height, the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) reports.
These and 12 other stars of the National Collegiate Athletic Association are the victims of "a bizarre government weight measurement definition that gives new meaning to 'March Madness,'" said Mike Burita, a spokesman for CCF, a coalition of restaurant and tavern proprietors opposed to government taxes on foods.
In 1998, the U.S. Government changed the standards by which body mass index is measured. As a result, close to 30 million Americans were shifted from a government-approved weight to the overweight and obese category, without gaining an ounce, Burrita said.
The NCAA players are in good company: athletic starts Michael Jordan and Cal Ripken Jr. are overweight also, according to the standards.(continues...)
I've been gravitationally challenged my whole life. About six years ago my son and I were in an accident in my Honda Civic (hatchback). We were broadsided by a maintenance truck (my fault), knocked across the median and into oncoming traffic. The car was totaled. My son (seven at the time was saved because he was riding in the back). I had some scrapes and bruises, but there's little reason either of us should have come out alive. Now, I was working out daily at the time (that sort of cut that off for a while, okay for good...). But I wasn't in "great" shape.
I did, however, have a "perfect" seatbelt bruise and the Dr. asked to take a picture for her med students.
But that's just me and we were very fortunate.
I suggest dropping this obese government intrusion from a considerable height; with any luck, it'll burst open like a ripe watermelon. ;^)
If you are going to quote Newton's Laws it might be advisable to learn how to spell all the terms.
--Boris
What are ya tryin to do, look like Ann Coulter?
Could it be those SMALL cars that provide LESS PROTECTION than say a SUV that FAT people jam themselves into?
It could be. It could also be that the chubbies are, increasingly, the new target of the statists.
Of course, it's all for their own good. And the good of society.
I love my SUV.
What are ya tryin to do, look like Ann Coulter?
Short of rendering her for lamp oil, we've finally found a good use for Rosie O'Donnell.
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