CORRELATIONS WITH SELF-REPORTED WEIGHT-LOSS IN OVERWEIGHT US ADULTS

The authors investigated two issues among overweight men and women in the U.S.: 1) what is the influence of the self-expressed intention to lose weight in the presence of other potential predictors of loss and 2) what are easily identifiable predictors of intentional weight loss during a 1-year recall period, The sample consisted of 1996 overweight men (body mass index (BMI greater than or equal to 27.8 kg/m(2)) and 2586 overweight women (BMI greater than or equal to 27.3 kg/m(2)) who answered questions regarding 1-year weight change in a Current Health Topic supplement of the population-based 1989 National Health Intervie w Survey, Of these overweight persons, 56.8% of men and 72.1% of women attempted to lose weight during the previous year, The most important characteristic associated with weight loss was the expressed intentio n itself, For any weight loss, the odds ratios (95% confidence interva ls) for intention were 4.6 (3.6-5.9) for men and 3.8 (2.8-5.0) for wom en, Controlling for other factors reduced the odds only slightly, to 4 .3 for men and 3.5 for women, Among women, older age, having a greater frequency of blood pressure checks, and being in poorer health reduce d the influence of intent as a predictor of loss, To address the secon d objective, the identification of predictors of intentional 1-year we ight loss, analysis was restricted to overweight persons who attempted to lose weight. For both sexes, statistically significant predictors (p < 0.05) included never being married, smoking, higher BMI, being di abetic, and having a higher number of blood pressure checks, Being div orced or separated was predictive of weight loss in men only, Also, me n were more likely to achieve weight loss than women, In conclusion, 1 -year weight loss among the overweight was primarily a function of the intention to lose weight, although other factors contributed to deter mine whether weight loss was achieved.