title: Smoking Cessation and Changes in Body Mass Index Among Middle Aged and Older Adults.
abstract: This study contributes to the body of literature examining smoking cessation and body mass index (BMI) for adults aged 50 and older.
  
  
  
  Utilizing the 2004 and 2010 waves of the RAND Health and Retirement Study, this analysis utilized Fixed Effects (FE) regression on a sample of 1,316 adults aged 50 and older.
  
  
  
  Older adults undergo a small change in BMI after a transition from smoking to nonsmoking during a 6-year period, and this occurs after accounting for individual-level unobserved heterogeneity. More specifically, men experience a BMI gain of 1.24 ( p< .01) and women experience a BMI gain of 1.58 ( p< .01).
  
  
  
  Gerontologists/health professionals can use these results to inform older adults about the potential for a small increase in BMI and, in the process, assuage any apprehensions about excessive weight gain. This insight may encourage a greater number of older adults to cease smoking.
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Denver, CO, USA.
authors.forename: Andy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sharma
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015233:Models, Statistical; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D015430:Weight Gain
keywords: body mass index; older adult smoking; smoking; smoking cessation; weight