Changes in BMI from young adulthood to late midlife in 1536 Danish men: The influence of intelligence and education

Wimmelmann, Cathrine Lawaetz; Grønkjær, Marie; Mortensen, Erik Lykke

doi:10.1016/j.obmed.2021.100334

Cited by 3 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that the association between adolescent cognitive ability and adult BMI observed in this and other studies [ 28 – 41 ] is substantially biased by factors that are shared by siblings. This finding is also consistent with recent work showing a marked attenuation in the genetic correlation between educational attainment and BMI when using sibling data [ 59 ].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…Existing longitudinal studies span multiple countries, including several Scandinavian countries marked by low social inequality. Most [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41], but not all [39], find that individuals with higher cognitive ability have lower BMI and obesity rates in adulthood. Effect sizes are typically stronger for obesity than (mean) BMI [33,36,40,41], and there is evidence that associations are stronger at older ages [31,33,37].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The association between cognitive ability and body mass index: A sibling-comparison analysis in four longitudinal studies

2023

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Background Body mass index (BMI) and obesity rates have increased sharply since the 1980s. While multiple epidemiologic studies have found that higher adolescent cognitive ability is associated with lower adult BMI, residual and unobserved confounding due to family background may explain these associations. We used a sibling design to test this association accounting for confounding factors shared within households. Methods and findings We used data from four United States general youth population cohort studies: the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979 (NLSY-79), the NLSY-79 Children and Young Adult, the NLSY 1997 (NLSY-97), and the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS); a total of 12,250 siblings from 5,602 households followed from adolescence up to age 62. We used random effects within-between (REWB) and residualized quantile regression (RQR) models to compare between- and within-family estimates of the association between adolescent cognitive ability and adult BMI (20 to 64 years). In REWB models, moving from the 25th to 75th percentile of adolescent cognitive ability was associated with −0.95 kg/m2 (95% CI = −1.21, −0.69) lower BMI between families. Adjusting for family socioeconomic position reduced the association to −0.61 kg/m2 (−0.90, −0.33). However, within families, the association was just −0.06 kg/m2 (−0.35, 0.23). This pattern of results was found across multiple specifications, including analyses conducted in separate cohorts, models examining age-differences in association, and in RQR models examining the association across the distribution of BMI. Limitations include the possibility that within-family estimates are biased due to measurement error of the exposure, confounding via non-shared factors, and carryover effects. Conclusions The association between high adolescent cognitive ability and low adult BMI was substantially smaller in within-family compared with between-family analysis. The well-replicated associations between cognitive ability and subsequent BMI may largely reflect confounding by family background factors.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The association between cognitive ability and body mass index: A sibling-comparison analysis in four longitudinal studies

2023

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“…Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that the association between adolescent cognitive ability and adult BMI observed in this and other studies [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39] is substantially biased by factors which are shared by siblings. This finding is also consistent with recent work showing a marked attenuation in the genetic correlation between cognitive ability and BMI when using sibling data [57].…”

Section: Explanation Of Findingssupporting

confidence: 93%

“…Existing longitudinal studies span multiple countries, including several Scandinavian countries marked by low social inequality. Most [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39] but not all [39] find that individuals with higher cognitive ability have lower BMI and obesity rates in adulthood. Effect sizes are typically stronger for obesity than (mean) BMI [31,34,38,39] and there is evidence that associations are stronger at older ages [29,31,35].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39] but not all [39] find that individuals with higher cognitive ability have lower BMI and obesity rates in adulthood. Effect sizes are typically stronger for obesity than (mean) BMI [31,34,38,39] and there is evidence that associations are stronger at older ages [29,31,35]. The results from longitudinal studies are consistent with Mendelian Randomization (MR) evidence from samples of unrelated individuals showing an association between genetic predisposition to high (adult) cognitive ability and lower BMI [40].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Association Between Cognitive Ability and Body Mass Index: A Sibling-Comparison Analysis in Four Longitudinal Studies

Wright

Davies

Bann

2022

Preprint

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Background: Body mass index (BMI) and obesity rates have increased sharply since the 1980s. While multiple epidemiologic studies have found higher adolescent cognitive ability is associated with lower adult BMI, residual and unobserved confounding due to family background may explain these associations. We used a sibling design to test this association accounting for confounding factors shared within households. Methods: We used data from four cohort studies: the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979 (NLSY-79), the NLSY-79 Children and Young Adult, the NLSY 1997 (NLSY-97) and the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS); a total of 12,250 siblings from 5,602 households. We used random effects within-between (REWB) and residualized quantile regression (RQR) models to compare between- and within-family estimates of the association between adolescent cognitive ability and adult BMI (20-64 years). Results: In REWB models, moving from 0th to 100th percentile of adolescent cognitive ability was associated with -1.89 kg/m2 (95% CI = -2.41, -1.37) lower BMI between families. Adjusting for family socioeconomic position reduced the association to -1.23 (-1.79, -0.66) points. However, within families the association was just -0.13 (-0.70, 0.45) points. This pattern of results was found across multiple specifications, including analyses conducted in each separate cohorts, models examining age-differences in association, and in RQR models examining the association across the distribution of BMI. Conclusion: The association between high adolescent cognitive ability and low adult BMI was substantially smaller in within-family compared with between-family analysis. The well-replicated associations between cognitive ability and subsequent BMI may largely reflect confounding by family background factors.

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The Danish Aging and Cognition (DanACo) cohort

Grønkjær,

Mortensen,

Wimmelmann

et al. 2024

BMC Geriatr

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Background With aging populations worldwide, identification of predictors of age-related cognitive decline is becoming increasingly important. The Danish Aging and Cognition Cohort (DanACo) including more than 5000 Danish men was established to investigate predictors of age-related cognitive decline from young adulthood to late mid-life. Construction and content The DanACo cohort was established through two separate data collections with identical designs involving a follow-up examination in late mid-life of men for whom intelligence test scores were available from their mandatory conscription board examination. The cohort consists of 5,183 men born from 1949 through 1961, with a mean age of 20.4 years at baseline and a mean age of 64.4 years at follow-up. The baseline measures consisted of height, weight, intelligence test score and educational level collected at the conscription board examination. The follow-up assessment consisted of a re-administration of the same intelligence test and a comprehensive questionnaire covering socio-demographic factors, lifestyle, and health-related factors. The data were collected in test sessions with up to 24 participants per session. Using the unique personal identification number assigned to all Danes, the cohort has been linked to data from national administrative and health registers for prospectively collected data on socioeconomic and health-related factors. Utility and discussion The DanACo cohort has some major strengths compared to existing cognitive aging cohorts such as a large sample size (n = 5,183 men), a validated global measure of cognitive ability, a long retest interval (mean 44.0 years) and the availability of prospectively collected data from registries as well as comprehensive questionnaire data. The main weakness is the low participation rate (14.3%) and that the cohort consists of men only. Conclusion Cognitive decline is a result of a summary of factors across the life-course. The DanACo cohort is characterized by a long retest interval and contains data on a wealth of factors across adult life which is essential to establish evidence on predictors of cognitive decline. Moreover, the size of the cohort ensures sufficient statistical power to identify even relatively weak predictors of cognitive decline.

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Changes in BMI from young adulthood to late midlife in 1536 Danish men: The influence of intelligence and education

Cited by 3 publications

References 26 publications

The association between cognitive ability and body mass index: A sibling-comparison analysis in four longitudinal studies

The association between cognitive ability and body mass index: A sibling-comparison analysis in four longitudinal studies

The Association Between Cognitive Ability and Body Mass Index: A Sibling-Comparison Analysis in Four Longitudinal Studies

The Danish Aging and Cognition (DanACo) cohort

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