@article {8509, title = {Smoking Cessation and Changes in Body Mass Index Among Middle Aged and Older Adults.}, journal = {J Appl Gerontol}, volume = {37}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 08}, pages = {1012-1036}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVE: This study contributes to the body of literature examining smoking cessation and body mass index (BMI) for adults aged 50 and older.

METHOD: Utilizing the 2004 and 2010 waves of the RAND Health and Retirement Study, this analysis utilized Fixed Effects (FE) regression on a sample of 1,316 adults aged 50 and older.

RESULTS: Older adults undergo a small change in BMI after a transition from smoking to nonsmoking during a 6-year period, and this occurs after accounting for individual-level unobserved heterogeneity. More specifically, men experience a BMI gain of 1.24 ( p< .01) and women experience a BMI gain of 1.58 ( p< .01).

DISCUSSION: Gerontologists/health professionals can use these results to inform older adults about the potential for a small increase in BMI and, in the process, assuage any apprehensions about excessive weight gain. This insight may encourage a greater number of older adults to cease smoking.

}, keywords = {Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Body Mass Index, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Models, Statistical, Smoking cessation, Weight Gain}, issn = {1552-4523}, doi = {10.1177/0733464816655438}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27353834}, author = {Sharma, Andy} }