Latent heterogeneity in long-term trajectories of body mass index in older adults.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To evaluate latent heterogeneity in long-term trajectories of body weight in older adults.

Methods

We analyzed 14-year longitudinal data on 10,314 older adults from the Health and Retirement Study. Semiparametric mixture models identified latent subgroups of similar trajectories of body mass index (BMI).

Results

Five distinct trajectory subgroups emerged: normal starting-BMI with accelerated increase over time (trajectory #1), overweight and increasing (trajectory #2), borderline-obese and increasing (trajectory #3), obese and increasing (trajectory #4), and morbidly obese with decelerating gain (trajectory #5). Blacks and Hispanics had greater risk of membership in ascending high-BMI trajectory groups. Females had approximately half the risk of following ov

SUBMITTER: Botoseneanu A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4325276 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature