title: Weight histories and mortality among finnish adults: the role of duration and peak body mass index.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Many studies use information on weight histories to examine the association between body weight and mortality. A recent paper in Epidemiology (2013;25:707-710) developed a typology of the most common weight-history specifications.
  
  
  METHODS
  We use data from a sample of Finnish adults to explore the associations of body weight and mortality, using existing specifications and also peak body mass index (BMI), a new specification.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We confirm earlier findings that longer time in a high BMI state is predictive of mortality. Peak BMI (the highest BMI attained in life or available in the data) is also positively associated with mortality.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The specifications of duration in a high BMI state and peak BMI are both valuable for understanding the relationship between lifetime weight dynamics and mortality. The collection of information on peak body weight may be useful when collection of more detailed weight histories is not feasible.
authors.affiliation: From the aEmory University, Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, GA; bNational Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Department of Health, Functional Capacity and Welfare, Turku/Helsinki, Finland; cUniversity of Turku, Department of Public Health, Turku, Finland; and dUniversity of Pennsylvania, Population Studies Center, Philadelphia, PA.
authors.forename: Neil K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Mehta
authors.forename: Sari
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stenholm
authors.forename: Irma T
authors.initials: IT
authors.lastname: Elo
authors.forename: Arpo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aromaa
authors.forename: Markku
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heliövaara
authors.forename: Seppo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Koskinen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000401:mortality; D050177:Overweight / Q000401:mortality*; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors