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. 2023 Jun 29;8(4):71. doi: 10.3390/geriatrics8040071

Table 1.

Characteristics of participants by early and later life weight status (n = 11,288).

Early (18 years) and Later Life (≥70 years) Weight Status * (Mean ± SD or n (%) or Median (IQR))
Characteristic Healthy Weight Overweight Non-Obesity to Obesity Obesity to Non-Obesity Early and Later Life Obesity p-Value p-Value Gender Interaction
N 3494 (30.9%) 5135 (45.5%) 2431 (21.6%) 95 (0.8%) 133 (1.2%)
Demographic Factors
Age years mean ± SD 75.5 ± 4.5 75.1 ± 4.3 74.5 ±3.7 76.6 ± 5.1 74.6 ± 3.7 <0.001 0.14
Gender
Men 1350 (38.6%) 2725 (53.1%) 957 (39.4%) 42 (44.2%) 66 (49.6%) <0.001 0.41
Women 2144 (61.4%) 2410 (46.9%) 1474 (60.6%) 53 (55.8%) 67 (50.4%)
Living situation
At home with family/friends 2359 (67.5%) 3724 (72.5%) 1658 (68.2%) 51 (53.7%) 91 (68.4%) <0.001 0.42
At home alone 1135 (32.5%) 1411 (27.5%) 773 (31.8%) 44 (46.3%) 42 (31.6%)
Partner status
Partnered 1943 (64.2%) 3138 (70.1%) 1300 (63.1%) 45 (54.9%) 66 (58.4%) <0.001 0.22
Unpartnered 1084 (35.8%) 1338 (29.9%) 762 (36.9%) 37 (45.1%) 47 (41.6%)
Years of education
<12 years 1993 (57.0%) 3072 (59.8%) 1595 (65.6%) 65 (68.4%) 89 (66.9%) <0.001 0.80
>12 years 1501 (43.9%) 2063 (40.2%) 835 (34.3%) 30 (31.5%) 44 (33.1%)
Region
Major city 1204 (34.6%) 1869 (36.5%) 890 (36.7%) 41 (43.1%) 44 (33.1%) <0.001 0.19
Inner region 1912 (54.9%) 2629 (51.4%) 1224 (50.5%) 45 (47.4%) 63 (47.4%)
Outer/remote regional 367 (10.5%) 620 (12.1%) 309 (12.8%) 9 (9.5%) 26 (19.5%)
Economic factors
Area level socioeconomic status (SEIFA)
Least advantaged 1050 (30.2%) 1694 (33.1%) 919 (37.9%) 32 (33.7%) 58 (43.6%) <0.001 0.005
Middle tertial 1289 (37.0%) 1971 (38.5%) 910 (37.6%) 44 (46.3%) 49 (36.8%)
Most advantaged 1144 (32.8%) 1453 (28.4%) 594 (24.5%) 19 (20.0%) 26 (19.6%)
Paid work
No 2722 (91.9%) 3948 (89.9%) 1850 (91.2%) 71 (88.8%) 89 (85.6%) 0.013 0.39
Full-time/part-time 240 (8.1%) 444 (10.1%) 179 (8.8%) 9(11.3%) 15 (14.4%)
Volunteer work
No 1604 (53.5%) 2586 (58.6%) 1231 (60.3%) 38 (47.5%) 70 (63.1%) <0.001 0.09
Yes 1397 (46.5%) 1828 (41.4%) 810 (39.7%) 42 (52.5%) 41 (36.9%)
Health-Related Behaviours
Physical activity in middle age
Never/rarely/light 279 (9.2%) 450 (10.1%) 231 (11.3%) 12 (14.8%) 16 (14.8%) 0.035 0.015
Moderate/vigorous 2748 (90.8%) 4010 (78.1%) 1815 (88.7%) 69 (85.2%) 92 (85.2%)
Physical activity at ≥70 years
Never/rarely/light 783 (25.9%) 1325 (29.8%) 981 (47.9%) 23 (29.1%) 53 (49.1%) <0.001 <0.001
Moderate/vigorous 2241 (74.1%) 3120 (70.2%) 1063 (52.1%) 56 (70.9%) 55 (50.9%)
Smoking status
Never 2090 (59.8%) 2727 (53.1%) 1271 (52.3%) 57 (60.0%) 65 (48.9%) <0.001 0.07
Former/Current 1404 (40.2%) 2408 (46.9%) 1160 (47.7%) 38 (40.0%) 68 (51.1%)
Alcohol consumption
Never 514 (14.7%) 709 (13.8%) 432 (17.8%) 23 (24.2%) 28 (21.1%) <0.001 <0.001
Former/Current—Low Risk 2067 (59.2%) 2993 (58.3%) 1490 (61.3%) 54 (56.8%) 76 (57.1%)
Current—High Risk 913 (26.1%) 1433 (27.9%) 509 (20.9%) 18 (19.0%) 29 (21.8%)
Social health
Positive 3257 (93.2%) 4794 (93.4%) 2217 (91.2%) 87 (91.6%) 124 (93.2%) 0.011 0.46
Lonely/socially isolated/and/or low social support 237 (6.8%) 340 (6.6%) 214 (8.8%) 8 (8.4%) 9 (6.8%)
Depressive symptoms
<8 low depressive symptoms 3211 (91.9%) 4703 (91.6%) 2140 (88.1%) 82 (86.3%) 118 (88.7%) <0.001 0.53
≥8 high depressive symptoms 283 (8.1%) 432 (8.4%) 291 (11.9%) 13 (13.7%) 15 (11.3%)
Health-related Quality of Life median (IQR)
Mental component score 57.2 (52.3–60.0) 57.2 (52.9–60.2) 57.3 (52.3–61.4) 57.2 (52.4–60.9) 57.1 (52.3–61.1) 0.0086 0.60
Physical component 52.5 (46.2–56.1) 51.0 (44.0–55.5) 46.0 (38.3–52.5) 49.6 (43.2–55.1) 43.1 (38.1–51.1) <0.001 <0.001
Clinical Measures
Hypertension
No 1221 (34.9%) 1281 (24.9%) 372 (15.3%) 24 (25.3%) 22 (16.5%) <0.001 0.85
Yes 2273 (65.1%) 3854 (75.1%) 2059 (84.7%) 71 (74.7%) 111 (83.5%)
Diabetes mellitus
No 3328 (95.3%) 4686 (91.3%) 2016 (82.9%) 87 (91.6%) 104 (78.2%) <0.001 0.22
Yes 166 (4.7%) 449 (8.7%) 415 (17.1%) 8 (8.4%) 29 (21.8%)
Dyslipidaemia
No 1153 (33.0%) 1640 (31.9%) 717 (29.5%) 33 (34.7%) 38 (28.6%) 0.054 0.67
Yes 2341 (67.0%) 3495 (68.1%) 1714 (70.5%) 62 (65.3%) 95 (71.4%)
Cognitive performance
3MS 93.9 ± 4.42 93.6 ± 4.38 93.6 ± 4.36 92.5 ± 5.20 93.4 ± 4.34 0.0013 0.63
COWAT 12.7 ± 4.61 12.2 ± 4.65 11.9 ± 4.53 10.9 ± 4.23 11.4 ± 4.31 <0.001 0.048
SDMT 37.5 ± 10.03 37.2 ± 9.93 36.9 ± 9.59 33.6 ± 10.47 34.3 ± 8.74 <0.001 0.58
HVLT-R Delayed Recall 5.7 ± 2.07 5.6 ± 1.98 5.7 ± 1.98 5.2 ± 1.97 5.4 ± 2.02 0.006 0.77

* Early to later life weight status excludes individuals underweight at age 70. Healthy weight (at both age 18 and ≥70 years), overweight (at either or both times), non-obese (age 18 years) to obesity (age ≥ 70 years), obesity (age 18 years) to non-obese (age ≥ 70 years), and early and later life obesity (at age 18 and ≥70 years). n = number of observations; SD = standard deviation; p-Values are from ANOVA or Wilcoxon rank-sum tests (continuous), or Chi-square tests (categorical variables). SEIFA: the socioeconomic indexes for areas based on the Index of Relative Socioeconomic Advantage and Disadvantage, which is based on residential postcode. Depressive symptoms: Center for Epidemiological Studies–Depression. Health-related Quality of Life (SF-12). Hypertension: high blood pressure measurement of systolic ≥ 140 mmHg or diastolic ≥ 90 mmHg or anti-hypertensive medications use. Diabetes: self-report of diabetes or fasting glucose ≥ 126 mg/dL or diabetes medications. Dyslipidaemia: cholesterol-lowering medications or high serum cholesterol (total ≥ 212 mg/dL, or high-density lipoprotein ≥ 240 mg/dL or low-density lipoprotein >160 mg/dL). 3MS: Modified Mini-Mental State Examination. COWAT: Controlled Oral Word Association Test. SDMT: Symbol Digit Modalities Test. HVLT-R: the delayed recall score: Hopkins Verbal Learning Test—Revised.