Waist Circumference and Weight Change
Are Associated With Disability Among Elderly Hispanics
Weight Change Study Background
Studies have suggested that both high and low body mass index (BMI) and
weight change are related to functional disability in elderly populations.
Elderly Hispanics have a high prevalence of both obesity and disability,
yet few studies have examined their interrelationship in this population.
Therefore, we examined these relationships in a mostly Puerto Rican group
of Hispanic elders.
Weight Change Study Methods
Investigated associations between a three-level disability score created
from responses to a questionnaire on activities of daily living and BMI,
waist circumference and weight change since age 50, using the proportional
odds model in a cross-sectional study of 763 elderly Hispanics, aged 60
to 92 years, residing in Massachusetts.
Weight Change Study Results
After adjusting for potential confounders, men with a waist circumference
109.3 cm (vs <90 cm), or with a reported weight loss of -0.32 to -0.01
kg/year, or a weight gain 0.55 kg/year since age 50 were each significantly
associated with an approximately threefold higher risk for greater disability.
Women with a BMI 35 kg/m2 were almost four times as likely to have higher
disability as those with a BMI of 20 to 25 kg/m2. Compared with women
with a waist circumference 85.2 cm, those with a waist circumference of
91.5 to 106.6 cm were two times more likely, and those with a waist circumference
106.6 cm were five times more likely, to have higher disability scores.
Compared with relatively stable weight, weight gain 0.23 kg/year was associated
with a twofold higher risk of greater disability among women. When BMI
and waist circumference were included in the same model, waist circumference,
but not BMI, remained significantly associated with disability.
Weight Change Study Conclusion
Abdominal obesity (waist circumference 109.3 cm for men, or waist circumference
91.5 cm for women) and weight gain 0.55 kg/year after age 50 in men or
0.23 kg/year in women may increase the risk of disability among elderly
Hispanics.
Source: 2002 The Gerontological Society
of America.
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