Financial status and body mass index of middle-aged and older men and women

Using data from the 2014 Health and Retirement Study (HRS), this study examined the association of financial status and body weight for retirement-aged men and women. The descriptive results show that more men (80.3%) were overweight or obese than women (77%). However, the prevalence of obesity was higher for women (46.3%) than men (39.2%), and obese women had significantly lower levels of income and net worth than those of normal weight and overweight women. The multivariate results indicate that poor financial status was significantly associated with high body mass index (BMI) for both men and women; however, poor health conditions played an even more important role than financial status in determining high BMI for men and women aged 51–64.