Figure 2.

Trajectories of body shape by age among women from the Nurses’ Health Study (1976–2010) (A) and men from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (1986–2010) (B). We identified distinct trajectories of body fatness across the life span using a group-based modeling approach. In 1988, participants in both cohorts were asked to recall their body shapes in early and middle life by choosing one of 9 pictorial body diagrams (Figure 1) that best depicted their body outline at ages 5, 10, 20, 30, and 40 years. We calculated body mass index (weight (kg)/height (m)²) at ages 50 and 55 years and then converted body mass index to the same scale as that used at younger ages. Participants included prevalent cases of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes at age 55 years.