Passive smoking, active smoking, and education: their relationship to weight history in women in Geneva.
OBJECTIVE
This study was undertaken to determine the relationship of education and tobacco smoke to lifetime weight history in women.


METHODS
Information on passive smoking, active smoking, and weight history was collected from 928 women aged 29 to 74 years selected from the general population of Geneva, Switzerland. Multivariate analysis of variance was performed for weight, weight at age 20, and weight changes since age 20.


RESULTS
Education was inversely related to weight at age 20, current weight, and weight gain since age 20. The least educated group had a current weight of 4 kg more than the most educated group. Differences across smoking categories were small: passive smokers had the highest current weight (63.4 kg) and former active smokers had the lowest (60.4 kg). Weight gain since age 20 tended to be smaller in former and current active smokers (5.5 to 7.2 kg) than in passive smokers (8.3 to 10.4 kg) and those never exposed (9.1 kg).


CONCLUSIONS
In this sample, education was an important predictor of women's current weight and weight history. Passive and active smoking had little long-term effect on weight.
Bernstein
M
M
Clinical Epidemiology Division, University Canton Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland.
Morabia
A
A
Héritier
S
S
Katchatrian
N
N
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001835:Body Weight; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017533:Marital Status; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011897:Random Allocation; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012907:Smoking / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013557:Switzerland; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution; D015430:Weight Gain
D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution