Wade KH, et al. – In this instrumental variable analysis, researchers estimated the causal association of BMI with all-cause and cause-specific mortality. From the general population of Sweden, they used two-sample instrumental variable analysis with data from 996,898 fathers (282,407 deaths) and 1,013,083 mothers (153,043 deaths) and their sons. Follow up was from January 1, 1961, to December 31, 2004. Findings from this study were consistent with previous, high-power meta-analyses and reviews, which supported the role of higher BMI in raising the risk of several common causes of mortality, included cancers, with increasing global incidence. The investigators also noted a positive BMI impact on mortality from respiratory disease, prostate cancer, and lung cancer—which has been inconsistently reported in the literature, indicating that the causal role of higher BMI in death from these diseases may be underestimated. Furthermore, they observed a causal association between higher BMI in mothers and greater risk of mortality from kidney disease and lower risk of mortality from suicide.