Table 2.

Summary of previous longitudinal studies on the genetics of weight change in adulthood

Reference, country and study cohort	Age of participants, follow-up time, and sample sizea	Method	Main results (95% confidence intervals presented in brackets if reported in the study)
Fabsitz et al., 1994 [11]  USA  National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Twin Study including veterans of WWII and Korean War	Birth cohorts 1917–1927; baseline measure 1969–1973, follow-up measures 1981 and 1986, induction at 20 years; 254 MMZ and 260 MDZ pairs at baseline	Twin study; univariate twin model was applied to the slope of regression line based on BMI measures; clinical measures	Heritability estimate for the slope 0.70; only men included in the study
Austin et al., 1997 [12]  USA  Kaiser Permanente Women Study	Participants at 18–85 years at baseline in 1978–1979; follow-up in 1989–1990; 187 FMZ and 130 FDZ	Twin study; regression model; clinical measures	Heritability of BMI change varied between 0.57–0.86 depending on the used statistical method; only women included in the study
Rice et al., 1999 [13]  Canada  Longitudinal Quebec Family Study	412 individuals from 105 families; baseline measure in 1978–1981 and follow-up 12 years later	Family study; comparison of correlations; clinical measures	Heritability of BMI change 0.37; change of sum of six skinfolds 0.16
Hunt et al., 2002 [14]  Canada  Campbell‘s Survey of Well-Being in Canada	Baseline measure in 1981, follow-up measure in 1988; participants 7 and 69 years at baseline; 660 men and 655 women	Family study; regression model; clinical measures	Heritability estimate for the change of BMI 0.23 (0.11, 0.35), change of waist circumference 0.39 (0.70, 0.55) and change of sum of five skinfolds 0.12 (0.00, 0.30); men and women together
Fox et al., 2005 [15]  USA  Framingham Heart Study	5,209 men and women at 28–62 years were enrolled in 1948 and examined every 2 years. In 1971, 5,124 children of spouses of children of the original cohort were enrolled and followed up approximately every 4 years.	Family study; regression model; clinical measures	Heritability estimate for the change of BMI up to 24 years 0.24; Heritability estimate for the change of BMI for shorter follow-up time 0–0.12; men and women together
Franz et al., 2007 [16]  USA  Vietnam Era Twin Registry	Male twin pairs served in military 1965–1975 and followed-up 1996–2001.  Participants 20 years at baseline and, on average, 48 years at follow-up; 355 MZ and 338 DZ pairs	Twin study; Cholesky decomposition; clinical measured	Correlations of BMI at baseline and in follow-up examination: additive genetics 0.60 (0.44, 0.76) and specific environment 0.22 (0.07, 0.36); only men included in the study
Hjelmborg et al., 2008 [17]  Finland  Finnish Twin Cohort Study	Participants at 20–46 years at baseline in 1975; follow-up in 1981 and 1990; 735 FMZ, 499 MMZ, 1265 FDZ, 1013 MDZ	Twin study; linear growth curve model; self-reports	Heritability of weight change: 0.58 (0.50, 0.69) for males and 0.64 (0.58, 0.69) for females; additive genetic r of baseline BMI and change of BMI: -0.07 (-0.13, -0.07) for males and 0.04 (0.00, 0.08) for females; unique environmental r of baseline BMI and change of BMI: 0.01 (–0.02, −0.09) for males and 0.24 (0.04, 0.34) for females
Ortaga-Alonso et al.. 2009 [18]  Finland  Finnish Twin Cohort Study; sub-cohort for FITSA study	Participants 37–50 years at baseline in 1975; follow-up measures in 1981, 1990, 2001 and 2004; 149 FMZ and 164 FDZ	Twin study; linear growth curve model; self-reports (1975, 1981 and 1990) and clinical measures (2001 and 2004)	Heritability of weight change: 0.64 (0.45, 0.75) for females; additive genetic r of baseline BMI and change of BMI:  0.40 (0.15, 0.65) for females; unique environmental r of baseline BMI and change of BMI: -0.24 (–0.44, −0.04)

FDZ = female dizygotic; FMZ = female monozygotic; MDZ = male dizygotic; MMZ = male monozygotic.

^aIf the sample size varied at different ages, the sample size at the time of the latest measure was given.