Happy Friday Information: Death Risk News
March 27, 2026
Another dinobaby post. No AI unless it is an image. This dinobaby is not Grandma Moses, just Grandpa Arnold.
March has been an interesting month. Amazon Web Services fail over technology failed. But missile strikes are not something with which the two pizza teams had much familiarity. Now it’s a different story. The ensemble of estimable companies found themselves on the wrong side of social media addiction lawsuit. Let the appeals begin, but the decision is not going to boost the trust score in the European Union for US companies. Plus, there is some economic uncertainty forcing some seniors to decide, “Do I buy food or medicine this month?” There is vanlife, of course.
But for Friday, March 27, 2026, I want to present an even more uplifting item of allegedly true information. I know I believe everything I read on the Internet, and I assume you are even more rigorous in your information vetting than I. However, I found Science Daily’s “This Dangerous Combo in Your Body Could Raise Death Risk by 83%.”
Several click baity points. I like the idea of a “dangerous combo.” You put two things together and you may as well start coffin shopping now. Your “death risk” spikes. The odds are not quite twice as likely. The odds are only 1.83 percent. I keep remembering that everyone has a 100 percent chance of dying. But I think the point is that you will definitely or at least 1.83 percent change of heading to the quantum beyond faster. Speed is good in today’s high tech world, but speed in flopping over is a negative.
What’s Science News say? I noted this statement:
both excess abdominal fat and reduced muscle mass significantly raises the risk of death. People with this combination were 83% more likely to die than those without either condition.
Shocker. Who knew that being overweight in the tummy area and failing to exercise would shorten one’s life? Quite a scientific insight, is it not?
The write up points out:
simple methods can be used to detect sarcopenic obesity.
I think I understand. Look at a person. Big tummy and not much walking, paddle tennis, or competitive weight lifting signal a problem and put the observer on alert for trouble ahead.
True to modern science and diagnostic code chains, one does not just look at a person and say, “Put down that burger and hit the gym.” Nope. The article reports:
Diagnosing sarcopenic obesity usually requires advanced imaging tools such as magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography, electrical bioimpedance, or densitometry…. but they are expensive…
Yes, they are, and that is the entire point of using advanced technology when common sense provides equivalent insight about a person.
Here’s the shocker. The authors of the paper don’t want to do the DRG billing trick that rolled up hospitals favor. The write up says:
… the team used practical criteria to identify those at risk. Abdominal obesity was defined as a waist circumference greater than 102 centimeters for men and 88 centimeters for women. Low muscle mass was defined as a skeletal muscle mass index below 9.36 kg/m2 for men and below 6.73 kg/m2 for women.
The approach may work in Campinas, Brazil, a city in which we lived. But in the US? I am not so sure. Why? Learn more about health care billing and those nifty DRG chains. It’s a fun subject. Be aware that some of the documentation about the organizations chasing this issue is no longer available on certain US government public facing Web sites.
Net net: It’s NCAA basketball time. Kick back. Eat those cheese drenched nachos. Have a beverage. Change that behavior after the games. Monday for sure. If you think about 1.83 angle, the bad news is that it may be too late if one is over 22 years old.
Stephen E Arnold, March 27, 2026
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