journal articles
ASSOCIATIONS OF DEMOGRAPHICS, SMOKING, AND WEIGHT STATUS WITH INTENTIONALITY OF WEIGHT LOSS: NHANES 1999- 2016
Zhaohui Cui, June Stevens, Jianwen Cai
Background: Intentional weight loss has been shown to have health benefits, whereas, unintentional weight loss is a strong risk factor for morbidity and mortality. The prevalence of unintentional weight loss in an American national sample has not been described in the past quarter century.
Objectives: To describe the distribution of unintentional and intentional weight loss and its associations with demographics, smoking, and weight status.
Design: A nationally representative population-based cross-sectional study.
Setting: The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES 1999-2016).
Participants: 41,603 adults who aged ≥21 years and were not pregnant during the year prior to the survey.
Measurements: Participants reported their current body weight, their weight one year earlier, and if they tried to lose weight in the past year. A weight loss was defined as a ≥5% of reduction in weight. Demographics, smoking, and weight status were determined for the beginning of the weight change interval. We used survey frequency analysis to examine prevalences and survey multinomial logistic regression analysis to compare odds ratios in subgroups.
Results: Over a one year period, 18.2% of American adults lost weight, and 6.2% lost weight unintentionally. The prevalence of unintentional weight loss was stable over the 18-year period studied. Adults who were older were more likely to subsequently lose weight unintentionally than their younger counterparts, and the highest risk was in those who were 79 years or older. Other risk factors included lower education level (vs. college educated) and smoking (vs. nonsmoking). Adults who were overweight or obese were more likely to report unintentional weight loss than normal weight.
Conclusion: Studies examining weight loss need to assess and carefully consider the distribution and correlates of intentionality, and expect that even elderly cohorts will exhibit both unintentional and intentional weight loss.
CITATION:
Zhaohui Cui ; June Stevens ; Jianwen Cai (2019): Associations of Demographics, Smoking, and Weight Status with Intentionality of Weight Loss: NHANES 1999-2016. Care Weekly. http://dx.doi.org/10.14283/cw.2019.2