Abstract: Objective To describe the prevalence of overweight and obesity and investigate the relationship between body mass index and chronic diseases among elderly people in Wuhan. Methods Data was collected from health status census on all elder people aged over 65 in Wuhan. A total of 372 990 elders aged over 65 were included in the study, their investigation questionnaires, physical examination, laboratory tests and abdominal B-ultrasound examination results. Results The prevalence of overweight and obesity among elderly people were 29.03% and 8.36%, respectively. And the prevalence in urban area (33.37%, 9.98%) were higher than rural area (24.82%, 6.78%), also the rate in women (29.35%, 9.87%) were higher than men (28.66%, 6.62%) and it decreased with age. After adjusting the area, gender and age, high body mass index was a risk factor of hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, fatty liver, coronary heart disease and stroke also is an advantage of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Conclusions The prevalence of overweight and obesity among elderly people in Wuhan is high, overweight and obesity are major risk factors of cardiovascular diseases and metabolic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes.