title: Predictors of weight loss in obese older adults: findings from the USA and the UK.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the prevalence and demographic predictors of clinically meaningful weight loss in community samples of obese older adults in the USA and the UK.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were from obese older adults (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m(2); age ≥ 52 years), free of a cancer diagnosis, from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS; n = 3398) and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA; n = 998). Weight change was assessed from 2004 to 2008. Multivariable logistic regression tested whether age, sex, ethnicity, marital status, education, or BMI predicted ≥ 5% weight loss.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over a quarter (28.7%) of obese participants from HRS and 16.6% from ELSA lost ≥ 5% weight. Being female (odds ratio (OR) = 1.31, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.11-1.54) and heavier (BMI ≥ 35 kg/m(2)) (OR = 1.60, 95% CI = 1.37-1.87) predicted weight loss in HRS. Trends were similar in ELSA (female: OR = 1.18, 95% CI = 0.83-1.69; BMI ≥ 35 kg/m(2): OR = 1.24, 95% CI = 0.85-1.82). ORs were increased in ≥ 65-year-olds in HRS (OR = 1.55, 95% CI = 1.33-1.81), and reduced in married people in ELSA (OR = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.48-1.00). Neither education nor ethnicity predicted weight loss in either cohort.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A high proportion of obese older adults experience clinically meaningful weight loss, but few demographic variables consistently predict weight loss in this population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Sarah E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.forename: Rebecca J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Beeken
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wardle
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012737:Sex Factors; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D015431:Weight Loss