Table 2.

Prevalence of adverse outcomes associated with childhood, adulthood, and persistent obesity^*

		Obesity category (%)
Adult outcome	Overall prevalence % (n)	Neither childhood nor adulthood	Childhood only	Adulthood only	Childhood and adulthood	P value†
Men
Unskilled occupation (social class IV or V)	20 (807)	19	30	21	26	0.02
Never gainfully employed	18 (741)	19	18	17	26	0.2
Currently unemployed and seeking work	4 (175)	4	4	5	5	0.5
Left school aged ≤16	59 (2429)	57	57	66	67	0.0001
Left school with no qualifications	29 (1195)	27	24	37	38	<0.0001
Never been married	56 (2307)	58	59	46	51	<0.0001
Has no current partner	35 (1430)	37	38	27	32	<0.0001
Psychological disorder (malaise inventory score ≥7)	13 (535)	13	9	15	20	0.09
Limiting longstanding illness	10 (412)	10	11	14	6	0.01
Women
Unskilled occupation (social class IV or V)	21 (899)	20	23	27	28	0.0008
Never gainfully employed	13 (568)	13	19	14	21	0.02
Currently unemployed and seeking work	2 (87)	2	2	3	1	0.7
Left school aged ≤16	49 (2141)	48	55	55	55	0.002
Left school with no qualifications	25 (1093)	23	33	31	27	0.0005
Never been married	43 (1879)	44	35	37	37	0.002
Has no current partner	29 (1265)	29	31	25	42	0.01
Psychological disorder (malaise inventory score ≥7)	19 (830)	19	21	24	25	0.02
Limiting longstanding illness	11 (487)	9	6	7	2	0.07

^*Base numbers varied from 4279 to 4371 for men and from 4036 to 4119 for women because of missing data.

^†P values are given for χ² test for four group comparison.