Social disparities in BMI trajectories across adulthood by gender, race/ethnicity and lifetime socio-economic position: 1986–2004

Abstract

Results highlight the importance of social status and socio-economic resources for maintaining optimal weight. Yet, even those in advantaged social positions have experienced an increase in BMI in recent years.

Young adult weight trajectories through midlife by body mass category

“…For each strata, they showed that weight gain was most rapid for those in their 20s, 30s, and 40s and then tended to level off and then decrease after age 60 (7). However, neither they nor more recent growth curve or trajectory analyses by Clarke et al (4) or Østbye et al (6) provide separate estimates of likely weight trajectories by starting BMI category.…”

“…Several studies have estimated average weight gain among adults in the general population or for specific population subsets (4)(5)(6)(7). For example, in a recent and highly cited study, Mozaffarian et al (5) reported average annual weight gain of 0.38 kg (0.84 lb) among nonobese adults in the US.…”

Educational expansion and the education gradient in health: A hierarchical age-period-cohort analysis

“…Clarke et al, 2009;Reiter et al, 2009;Stegmueller, 2014;Tawfik et al, 2012), Bell and Jones (2013a, 2013b, 2014a questioned the validity of this approach. They asserted that it is impossible to assess the net effects of time-related changes accurately, without making the assumption that at least one of the age-period-cohort effects is equal to zero.…”

Inter-Cohort Variation in the Consequences of U.S. Military Service for Men’s Mid- to Late-Life Body Mass Index Trajectories

“…The long-term trajectory of BMI over adulthood shows a largely linear increase with age for both men and women (Botoseneanu and Liang 2011), although weight gain appears to slow with age (He and Baker 2004). The well-documented secular increase in obesity prevalence is reflected in longitudinal studies; the BMI trajectories of younger cohorts are steeper than those of the older cohorts examined (Clarke et al 2009). …”

“…Most studies indicate that women have higher rates of weight gain with age than men (Clarke et al 2009;He and Baker 2004;Mujahid et al 2005;Walsemann and Ailshire 2011), although some find no gender difference (Botoseneanu and Liang 2011). Race is related to BMI trajectories, but its effects vary by gender.…”