The heavier you are in middle age the more likely you are to have difficulty taking care of yourself in older age, a major analysis shows, with problems bathing and dressing increasing as people become more overweight.

Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute researcher Anna Peeters made the finding after conducting an analysis of data from about 6000 people included in a long-term Melbourne study aimed at identifying risk factors for chronic illness.

Researchers compared respondents’ body mass index (BMI) - a measure of fat - in middle age to levels of ‘‘self care disability’’ 14 years later, including whether they had any difficulty bathing, eating, dressing, going to the toilet or getting out of a chair or bed.

They found 57 per cent of those who were obese in middle age had a self-care disability in older age, compared to 23 per cent of those who had been in a healthy weight range.

People who were obese in middle age were also more likely to have difficulty walking about 200 metres, with half of obese people struggling to do so compared to 13 per cent of those in a healthy weight range.