%0 Journal Article %J J Appl Gerontol %D 2018 %T Smoking Cessation and Changes in Body Mass Index Among Middle Aged and Older Adults. %A Sharma, Andy %K Aged %K Aged, 80 and over %K Body Mass Index %K Female %K Humans %K Male %K Middle Aged %K Models, Statistical %K Smoking cessation %K Weight Gain %X

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.

%B J Appl Gerontol %V 37 %P 1012-1036 %8 2018 08 %G eng %U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27353834 %N 8 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27353834?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1177/0733464816655438