Table 1. Characteristics of participants in three British birth cohorts (born 1946, 1958 and 1970) with height and weight data measured in childhood, adolescence and adulthood, by cohort.
| Variable | Cohort n (%) or mean (SD) | ||
| 1946 | 1958 | 1970 | |
| N = 2,211 | N = 6,207 | N = 3,029 | |
| Sex | |||
| Male | 1,122 (50.8) | 3,102 (50.0) | 1,381 (45.6) |
| Female | 1,089 (49.3) | 3,105 (50.0) | 1,648 (54.4) |
| Ethnicity | |||
| White | n/a* | 6,133 (98.8) | 2,971 (98.1) |
| Non-white | 74 (1.2) | 68 (1.9) | |
| Child characteristics | |||
| Age | 7.1 (0.20) | 7.3 (0.25) | 10.2 (0.20) |
| BMI | 15.8 (1.41) | 15.9 (1.69) | 16.9 (2.10) |
| Overweight and obese | 155 (7.6) | 515 (9.3) | 261 (8.6) |
| Obese | 14 (0.6) | 87 (1.4) | 9 (0.3) |
| Adolescent characteristics | |||
| Age | 14.5 (0.20) | 15.8 (0.19) | 16.4 (0.25) |
| BMI | 20.0 (2.67) | 20.7 (2.85) | 21.2 (3.12) |
| Overweight and obese | 195 (8.8) | 622 (10.0) | 395 (13.0) |
| Obese | 17 (0.8) | 95 (1.5) | 57 (1.9) |
| Adult characteristics | |||
| BMI | 25.5 (4.25) | 26.7 (4.96) | 25.7 (4.77) |
| Overweight and obese | 1,072 (48.5) | 3,703 (59.7) | 1,469 (48.5) |
| Obese | 281 (12.7) | 1,155 (18.6) | 492 (16.2) |
| Hypertension | 1,288 (58.2) | 692 (13.5) | 140 (4.6) |
| Type 2 diabetes | 59 (2.7) | 135 (2.6) | 33 (1.1) |
| Coronary heart disease | 85 (4.4) | 18 (0.4) | 2 (0.1) |
*
Ethnicity data were not available for these analyses; for the purposes of consequent analyses, cohort members were assumed to be of white ethnicity. BMI – body mass index; SD – standard deviation.