Weight loss attempts in adults: goals, duration, and rate of weight loss.

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Abstract

Although attempted weight loss is common, little is known about the goals and durations of weight loss attempts and the rates of achieved weight loss in the general population.

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Variability of body weight and health outcomes in the Framingham population.

Bernard E Kreger, R D'Agostino, Robert Stokes … (1991)

Fluctuation in body weight is a common phenomenon, due in part to the high prevalence of dieting. In this study we examined the associations between variability in body weight and health end points in subjects participating in the Framingham Heart Study, which involves follow-up examinations every two years after entry. The degree of variability of body weight was expressed as the coefficient of variation of each subject's measured body-mass-index values at the first eight biennial examinations during the study and on their recalled weight at 25 years of age. Using the 32-year follow-up data, we analyzed total mortality, mortality from coronary heart disease, and morbidity due to coronary heart disease and cancer in relation to intraindividual variation in body weight, including only end points that occurred after the 10th biennial examination. We used age-adjusted proportional-hazards regression for the data analysis. Subjects with highly variable body weights had increased total mortality (P = 0.005 for men, P = 0.01 for women), mortality from coronary heart disease (P = 0.009 for men, P = 0.009 for women), and morbidity due to coronary heart disease (P = 0.0009 for men, P = 0.006 for women). Using a multivariate analysis that also controlled for obesity, trends in weight over time, and five indicators of cardiovascular risk, we found that the positive associations between fluctuations in body weight and end points related to mortality and coronary heart disease could not be attributed to these potential confounding factors. The relative risks of these end points in subjects whose weight varied substantially, as compared with those whose weight was relatively stable, ranged from 1.27 to 1.93. Fluctuations in body weight may have negative health consequences, independent of obesity and the trend of body weight over time.

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Long-term memory of body weight and past weight satisfaction: a longitudinal follow-up study.

V A Casey, J Dwyer, C S Berkey … (1991)

Recalled body weight and self-reported current weight were validated in a longitudinal study population by comparing recalls at 50 y to actual measures taken at ages 18, 30, 40, and 50 y. Recalled body weights were also compared with reported desired weights at these same ages. Self-reported weights at 50 y were equally accurate for both males and females; the mean reporting underestimate was -1.98 kg for males and -1.86 kg for females. Males' self reports at age 50 y were influenced by years of education (P less than 0.005) and current body size (P less than 0.0001) whereas females' were not. Correlations between recall of past weights and measured weights ranged from r = 0.87 at 18 y to 0.95 at 40 y. Recalls of past body weight were not significantly influenced by the passage of time, the number of years of education, or the accuracy of current weight reports. Current body size (wt/ht2) was significantly associated with life-time weight dissatisfaction in both sexes (P less than 0.0005).

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Telephone surveys in public health research.

Matthew Marcus, Adam L Crane (1986)

The last 10 years have seen increasing use of telephone surveys in public health research. This paper reviews issues of sampling, data quality, questionnaire development, scheduling of interviewers, respondent burden, interviewer effects, and the use of the computer in telephone interviewing. Throughout, the authors focus on findings from recent research, with particular emphasis on those studies suggesting new advances or protocols for conducting telephone health surveys. The findings of this review suggest four conclusions. First, telephone interviews can be highly recommended for follow-up interviews in panel surveys that use an initial face-to-face interview. Second, telephone surveys can be recommended as a viable alternative to costly face-to-face surveys in cross-sectional studies of the general population. Third, when the focus of the survey is on subgroups of the population that have both low telephone coverage and higher rates of nonresponse (e.g., low income and low education respondents), telephone interviews should be used more cautiously. In these situations, a dual sampling frame approach (using a combination of face-to-face and telephone interviewing) may be considered. Finally, computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) represents one of the most important and innovative technologic advances in health survey research in recent years. The advantages of CATI in improving survey management are noteworthy and ideally suited for moderate- to large-sample surveys. CATI also provides an attractive (and largely untapped) resource for testing and refining other methodologic protocols in survey research.