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Smoking Cessation and Changes in Body Mass Index Among Middle Aged and Older Adults

Journal of Applied Gerontology

Published online on

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.