Men car drivers who crash have a greater chance of dying if they suffer from obesity according to recent research in the United States. The research group from Milwaukee said that this could be partly because of the increased momentum an obese person would have in a crash and also due to the fact that obesity weakens the human body's recovery strength.

However the study seemed to suggest that slightly overweight males were not in the same category as with them the impact of a crash was cushioned by the moderate weight. The research looked at the collision information of over twenty thousand people and was being looked at by car designers for possible design modifications. The death rate for road crashes was 0.87 percent for men and 0.43 percent women.

The results showed that men whose body mass index (BMI) was either greater than 35 or below 22 had a much greater chance of death compared with those whose BMI was between these figures. The researchers said that the higher death risk was due a combination of momentum, comorbidities of being obese and post operative complications affecting the obese coupled with the fact that obesity causes anatomical changes that can further impede the response of a person to injury.

It is interesting to note that those with very low BMI were in a danger category, which was almost certainly to do with having little fat protection to cushion crash impacts, though it was suggested that the reason they were thin was due to other health complications. The research also looked at women and could not find a relevant link between BMI and female risk of death. It seems that the different body shapes of men and women must be due to this in some way.

The research is important as it shows up another danger of being obese and may help insurance companies determine risk assessment factors for premiums and also help in the design of cars for manufacturers. The  Chairman of the National Obesity Forum noted that there are over forty different obesity related conditions that can have an effect on the health and quality of life of obese people.