Arch Intern Med
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The high prevalence of obesity in black women has been hypothesized to contribute to higher rates of coronary heart disease and total mortality. Investigators have recently refined the study of obesity by differentiating anatomic patterns of the physical location of adipose tissue on the body. We examined fat patterning as a predictor of mortality in black women. ⋯ The failure of BMI and fat patterning to predict mortality in black women challenges previously held assumptions regarding the role of overweight in the higher mortality experienced by black women.