Saturday, March 04, 2006

My Belly is my Airbag

They did a study of car crashes.

Moderately overweight men survive LOTS more than thin men and fat men.

The trend does not show in women.

The speculation is that the gut pads the men like a pre-deployed airbag. The same does not hold for women because female fat goes to the hips/butt. However, if the man is too fat, he can have a heart attack.

Isn't that fascinating?

Obese and Skinny Male Drivers Fare Worse in Car Crashes
MedPage Today Action Points
  • Explain to interested patients that this study found in males, but not females, a body-mass index greater than 35 or less than 22 is associated with increased mortality from automobile accidents.

Body-mass index did not affect women's mortality risk after a crash, perhaps because gender differences in body shape lead to different injury patterns, the researchers speculated.

Current vehicle cabin designs are based on a standard crash test dummy in the driver's position with a BMI of 24.3, the authors said.

"These cabin designs may not be optimal for drivers with a different body habitus and may contribute to the higher fatality seen at both ends of the BMI continuum," the authors concluded. "Future crash dummy simulations and other studies are needed to account for individual and gender-related variations in body mass and fat distribution in tests of velocity and vehicle design."

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