Association of fat mass and fat-free mass with all-cause and cause-specific mortality in Asian individuals: A prospective cohort study

Abstract

Objective: The study's objective was to investigate the association of fat mass index (FMI) and fat-free mass index (FFMI) with all-cause mortality and cause-specific mortality in the Chinese population.

Methods: A total of 422,430 participants (48.1% men and 51.9% women) from the Taiwan MJ Cohort with an average follow-up of 9 years were included.

Results: The lowest (Q1) and highest (Q5) quintiles of FMI and FFMI were associated with increased all-cause mortality. Compared with those in the third quintile (Q3) group of FMI, participants in Q1 and Q5 groups of FMI had hazard ratios and 95% CI of 1.32 (1.24-1.40) and 1.13 (1.06-1.20), respectively. Similarly, compared with those in Q3 group of FFMI, people in Q1 and Q5 groups of FFMI had hazard ratios of 1.14 (1.06-1.23) and 1.16 (1.10-1.23), respectively. In the restricted cubic spline models, both FMI and FFMI showed a J-shaped association with all-cause mortality. People in Q5 group of FFMI had a hazard ratio of 0.72 (0.58-0.89) for respiratory disease.

Conclusions: The mortality risk increases in those with excessively high or low FMI and FFMI, yet the associations between FMI, FFMI, and the risk of death varied across subgroups and causes of death.