Lifetime weight patterns in male physicians: the effects of cohort and selective survival.
OBJECTIVE
The natural history of lifetime weight change is not well understood because of conflicting evidence from cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. Cross-sectional analyses find that adult weight is highest at approximately 60 years of age and lower thereafter. Longitudinal analyses have not found this pattern. Our objective was to test whether cohort effects and selective survival may explain the differences observed between cross-sectional and longitudinal studies.


METHODS
We analyzed data on white men from the Johns Hopkins Precursors Study (n = 1197). Weight and height were measured at enrollment during medical school. The Precursors Study collected subsequent weight measurements by self-report and follows all participants for mortality.


RESULTS
In preliminary analyses that ignored cohort and survival effects, average weight increased 0.16 kg/yr to age 65 (p < 0.001) and declined 0.10 kg/yr thereafter (p = 0.002). When controlling for differing rates of weight change by cohort and survival group, the apparent decline after 65 years of age was mostly explained.


CONCLUSIONS
These data suggest that, in white men, weight increases steadily until age 65 and then plateaus. These findings emphasize the necessity of longitudinal rather than cross-sectional data to describe lifetime weight patterns.
Barone
Bethany B
BB
Department of Epidemiology, The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Clark
Jeanne M
JM
Wang
Nae-Yuh
NY
Meoni
Lucy A
LA
Klag
Michael J
MJ
Brancati
Frederick L
FL
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010820:Physicians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016019:Survival Analysis