Skip Navigation



American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access published online on November 3, 2005
American Journal of Epidemiology, doi:10.1093/aje/kwi328
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
162/12/1179    most recent
kwi328v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Wilsgaard, T.
Right arrow Articles by Arnesen, E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Wilsgaard, T.
Right arrow Articles by Arnesen, E.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

American Journal of Epidemiology Copyright © 2005 by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health All rights reserved; printed in U.S.A.
Received November 29, 2004
Accepted June 27, 2005

ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Determining Lifestyle Correlates of Body Mass Index using Multilevel Analyses: The Tromsø Study, 1979-2001

Tom Wilsgaard 1*, Bjarne K. Jacobsen 1, and Egil Arnesen 1

1 From the Institute of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Tom Wilsgaard, E-mail: tom.wilsgaard{at}ism.uit.no


  Abstract

Increases in overweight and obesity have been observed globally in both developed and developing countries. The authors assessed the relation between lifestyle factors and body mass index (BMI) (weight (kg)/height (m)2) in a population-based longitudinal study, using BMI and its subsequent change as responses in a multilevel model. The authors included 11,115 men and women aged 20-61 years at baseline who were living in the municipality of Tromsø, Norway, and who participated in three or four consecutive health surveys between 1979-1980 and 2001. Baseline age, physical activity at work, coffee consumption, and desired BMI (i.e., the BMI that the subjects reported they would like to have) were positively associated with baseline BMI, whereas height, alcohol consumption, leisure-time physical activity, and level of education were inversely associated. Most relations were found to be stronger in women than in men. Clinically relevant effect sizes were observed for most of the significant associations, especially in women. For instance, on an ordinal scale, a one-category increase in educational level would decrease the mean baseline BMI among women by 0.30 kg/m2. Significant associations between several lifestyle factors and subsequent BMI change revealed that observed baseline associations were strengthened over time, especially in women.

Keywords: body mass index; longitudinal studies; obesity; population; sex.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Epidemiol. Community HealthHome page
A J Schulz, J S House, B A Israel, G Mentz, J T Dvonch, P Y Miranda, S Kannan, and M Koch
Relational pathways between socioeconomic position and cardiovascular risk in a multiethnic urban sample: complexities and their implications for improving health in economically disadvantaged populations
J Epidemiol Community Health, July 1, 2008; 62(7): 638 - 646.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.