1University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore
*Corresponding author: Chris Laird, MD, Department of Surgery, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 22 South Greene Street, Baltimore, MD-21201, Tel: (410) 328–7592, Fax: (410) 328–5919, Email: claird@smail.umaryland.edu
Online published on 2 September, 2017.
Every four years, voters in the United States decide on a candidate to become President of the United States of America, arguably the most powerful position in the world. In the last several decades, the rise of internet journalism and social media has given the public unprecedented access to details of candidate's lives. Previous studies have examined the influence of height on electability. However, as candidates of both sexes are now participating in presidential races, we sought to study whether BMI could be a marker for election success. A majority (58%) of US presidential elections in the last 100 years was won by the candidate with lower BMI. Democratic candidates with lower BMI fared even better, winning 71% of elections when against a larger Republican rival.
BMI, obesity, US presidents
