Adults with Greater Weight Satisfaction Report More Positive Health Behaviors and Have Better Health Status Regardless of BMI

Table 6

Relationships between body weight satisfaction by overweight status and health indicators and history of chronic disease, Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study, 1987–2002: women (𝑛=4595)*.

	Satisfied (𝑛=2189)^§				Dissatisfied (𝑛=2406)
	Normal; Weight^¶; (𝑛=2147)	Overweight (𝑛=42)	Obese; (𝑛=0)	𝑃^⨀	Normal; Weight; (𝑛=1225)	Overweight; (𝑛=856)	Obese; (𝑛=325)	𝑃^⨀
Chronic disease diagnoses^†
Hypertension**	282 (13.1)	11 (26.2)	—	.01	157 (12.8)	181 (21.1)	115 (35.4)	<.0001
Myocardial infarction or stroke^††	6 (.3)	1 (2.4)	—	.02	7 (.6)	5 (.6)	3 (.9)	.76
Cancer^††	149 (6.9)	6 (14.3)	—	.07	77 (6.3)	66 (7.7)	20 (6.2)	.40
Diabetes^††	30 (1.4)	1 (2.4)	—	.59	22 (1.8)	26 (3.0)	18 (5.5)	.001
Hypercholesterolemia^‡‡,a	420 (19.6)	13 (30.1)	—	.07	274 (22.4)	282 (32.9)	123 (37.9)	<.0001
Health indicators^‡
Percent body fat (%)^a,b	22.6 (5.3)	27.6 (5.2)	—	<.0001	27.2 (4.9)	32.6 (4.5)	37.1 (4.3)	<.0001
Waist circumference (cm)^a	68.5 (8.1)	81.0 (11.4)	—	<.0001	72.6 (6.1)	81.6 (7.2)	96.2 (11.3)	<.0001
Treadmill time (minutes)^a,b	16.0 (4.5)	13.2 (5.7)	—	<.0001	14.3 (4.0)	12.0 (3.5)	9.6 (3.3)	<.0001
Maximal METs^§§,a,b	10.7 (2.1)	9.5 (2.8)	—	.0002	9.9 (1.9)	8.9 (1.6)	7.8 (1.5)	<.0001
Fasting glucose (mg/dL)	92.6 (13.4)	95.0 (10.9)	—	.24	92.9 (8.2)	97.3 (18.3)	101.0 (23.5)	<.0001
Systolic blood pressure (mmHg)^b	111.1 (13.9)	116.9 (13.4)	—	.008	111.9 (13.9)	116.7 (14.3)	121.5 (13.9)	<.0001
Diastolic blood pressure (mmHg)^b	74.6 (9.5)	76.5 (9.5)	—	.19	74.7 (9.2)	78.1 (9.5)	82.4 (9.1)	<.0001
Total cholesterol (mg/dL)^a	193. 1 (36.6)	208.4 (37.0)	—	.008	198.6 (38.7)	210.3 (38.9)	212.9 (40.1)	<.0001

 *𝑁 applies for all data except for 𝑁=2136 for percent body fat and 𝑛=1340 for waist circumference for satisfied women and 𝑛=2330 for percent body fat and 𝑁=1500 for waist circumference for dissatisfied women.
^†Data reported as number of participants with the characteristic and the percent of column total for that variable represented (%).
^‡Data presented are means and standard deviations (SD).
 ^§Weight satisfaction is based on the difference between measured and goal weight (kg) or relative weight (kg/m²).
 ^¶BMI = body mass index, a measure of relative weight is described by this formula: weight (kg)/height (m)² categories; 𝑁 = normal weight classified as BMI of 18.5–24.9; OW = overweight classified as BMI 25–29.9 kg/m²; Obese classified as BMI ≥ 30 kg/m².
^⨀Significance of chi-square or Fisher’s exact test for categorical and of 𝑡-tests for continuous variables: comparisons of chronic disease diagnoses across BMI groups within weight satisfaction columns (satisfied or dissatisfied). (^aSignificance at 𝑃<.05 of chi-square or Fisher’s exact test for categorical variables and of 𝑡-tests for continuous variables: comparison of health and chronic disease indicator between normal weight satisfied men and normal weight dissatisfied men; significant comparisons presented in bold text. ^bSignificance at 𝑃<.05 of chi-square or Fisher’s exact test for categorical variables and of 𝑡-tests for continuous variables: comparison of health and chronic disease indicator between overweight satisfied men and overweight dissatisfied men; significant comparisons presented in bold text. ^cSignificance at 𝑃<.05 of chi-square or Fisher’s exact test for categorical variables and of 𝑡-tests for continuous variables: comparison of health and chronic disease indicator between obese satisfied men and obese dissatisfied men; significant comparisons presented in bold text.)
**Defined as the history of hypertension or resting systolic/diastolic blood pressure ≥140/90 mmHg.
^††Defined as any personal history of myocardial infarction or stroke; cancer, or diabetes including insulin use, or fasting blood glucose ≥7.0 mmol/L (126 mg/dL).
^‡‡Defined as the history of hypercholesterolemia or fasting total cholesterol level ≥6.2 mmol/L (240 mg/dL).
 ^§§Maximal metabolic equivalent tasks achieved during treadmill test.