Abstract

I appreciate the letter from Drs Santhanam and Masannat regarding their analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data from 2011–2012 with respect to the relation between mortality and body mass index (BMI) in individuals with diabetes mellitus and the effect of hypertension. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data are rich and can be used by clinical researchers with a fresh hypothesis to be investigated. If, as the authors suggest, BMI might be a predictor at some level of sensitivity/specificity, further investigations may yield important clinical data. Indeed, these relationships (BMI, smoking, lifestyle factors, adiposity vs lean body muscle mass) are important to understand in the context of preventive health measures and individual-specific targets for therapeutic measures. The authors’ inquisitiveness into these relationships is laudable and necessary to gain further insight into these interactions for the benefit of our patients.