title: Weight status in adolescence is associated with later life functional limitations.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study examines the relationship between weight status in adolescence and later life functional limitations.
  
  
  METHODS
  We use the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study to characterize the relationship between standardized relative body mass ascertained from high school photograph portraits in 1957 and self-reported functional imitations in 2004.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared to individuals with normal body mass, those who were overweight in high school had poorer later life physical function, with observed gender differences. Women who were underweight in adolescence had better functioning in older adulthood than their normal weight counterparts. This relationship, however, was not found among men.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings underscore the long-term consequences of being overweight in adolescence on the functional disadvantages conferred in late life.
authors.affiliation: Office of Population Research, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA. svasunil@princeton.edu
authors.forename: Sarinnapha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vasunilashorn
authors.forename: Melissa L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Martinson
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000293:Adolescent; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D051346:Mobility Limitation; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D014922:Wisconsin
keywords: adolescence; functional limitations; late life health; lifecourse; overweight; physical function