Differences in the relationship of weight to height, and thus the meaning of BMI, according to age, sex, and birth year cohort

Figures & data

Table 1. Weight, height, and BMI means.

				Males				Females
	Age	Date	N	Weight (kg)	Height (cm)	BMI (kg/m^2)	N	Weight (kg)	Height (cm)	BMI (kg/m^2)
1946 NSHD
2461 males	11	1957	2050	34.3	140.6	17.3	1887	34.9	140.8	17.5
2263 females	15	1961	1881	51.8	162.0	19.6	1700	51.9	158.4	20.6
	20	1966	1802	70.9	176.9	22.6	1629	57.7	162.7	21.8
	26	1972	1822	73.6	177.1	23.4	1782	59.0	162.4	22.4
	36	1982	1631	76.5	175.3	24.8	1618	62.1	162.3	23.5
	43	1989	1612	79.0	175.3	25.7	1595	66.2	162.3	25.2
	53	1999	1451	83.7	174.6	27.4	1494	71.6	161.6	27.5
	60–64	2006–2010	1059	85.4	174.8	27.9	1155	72.9	161.7	27.9
1958 NCDS
8357 males	11	1969	6381	36.0	143.9	17.3	6117	37.2	144.8	17.6
7950 females	16	1974	5697	58.9	170.2	20.2	5342	54.4	160.9	21.0
	23	1981	6124	72.7	177.3	23.1	6145	58.2	162.2	21.1
	33	1991	5379	79.8	176.8	25.5	5321	65.1	162.9	24.5
	42	2000	5465	83.3	177.3	26.4	5574	67.0	162.6	25.3
	44	2002	4576	86.3	175.9	27.8	4618	71.2	162.5	27.0
	50	2008	4139	87.0	176.2	28.0	4097	70.7	162.6	26.8
1970 BCS
7923 males	10	1980	6251	32.2	138.7	16.7	5908	32.8	138.4	17.0
7514 females	16	1986	3713	63.1	173.8	20.8	4213	56.5	162.8	21.3
	26	1996	2576	74.9	175.3	24.4	4697	62.8	164.6	23.2
	30	2000	5313	81.4	178.5	25.5	5559	65.4	164.2	24.3
	34	2004	4521	84.6	178.5	26.5	4794	67.9	164.2	25.2
	42	2012	4298	87.7	178.6	27.5	4433	70.6	164.2	26.2
2001 MCS
6702 males	11	2012	6342	40.9	145.9	19.1	6238	42.2	146.7	19.4
6547 females	14	2015	5406	58.6	166.8	21.0	5293	57.1	161.0	21.9

Table 2. Weight, height, and BMI standard deviations.

			Males			Females
	Age	Date	Weight (kg)	Height (cm)	BMI (kg/m^2)	Weight (kg)	Height (cm)	BMI (kg/m^2)
1946 NSHD
	11	1957	6.0	6.7	2.1	7.1	7.1	2.6
	15	1961	9.6	8.9	2.4	8.8	6.3	3.0
	20	1966	9.2	6.8	2.5	8.4	6.3	2.9
	26	1972	10.0	6.5	2.8	9.2	6.4	3.2
	36	1982	11.4	6.6	3.2	11.3	6.1	4.1
	43	1989	12.1	6.6	3.5	12.8	6.0	4.8
	53	1999	13.6	6.6	4.0	14.3	6.0	5.5
	60–64	2006–2010	13.5	6.6	4.1	14.1	5.9	5.3
1958 NCDS
	11	1969	6.9	6.9	2.4	7.7	7.5	2.7
	16	1974	10.3	7.9	2.7	8.5	6.2	3.0
	23	1981	10.4	7.0	2.9	9.1	6.6	3.2
	33	1991	12.9	6.7	3.7	13.4	6.4	4.9
	42	2000	13.7	6.7	3.9	13.6	6.6	5.0
	44	2002	14.6	6.6	4.3	15.2	6.2	5.6
	50	2008	15.3	6.6	4.5	15.0	6.2	5.5
1970 BCS
	10	1980	4.9	6.2	1.9	5.7	6.4	2.3
	16	1986	10.4	8.5	3.0	8.8	6.7	3.1
	26	1996	11.1	5.2	3.4	11.2	6.8	4.0
	30	2000	13.5	7.2	3.8	13.0	6.9	4.7
	34	2004	14.6	7.2	4.2	14.1	6.8	5.1
	42	2012	15.7	7.1	4.6	15.3	6.9	5.6
2001 MCS
	11	2012	9.9	7.1	3.6	10.3	7.4	3.7
	14	2015	13.6	8.7	4.0	12.0	6.4	4.2

Table 3. Weight, height, and BMI correlations.

			Males			Females
	Age	Date	Weight Height	BMI Weight	BMI Height	Weight Height	BMI Weight	BMI Height
1946 NSHD
	11	1957	0.69	0.84	0.19	0.66	0.87	0.22
	15	1961	0.75	0.82	0.26	0.50	0.88	0.04
	20	1966	0.55	0.81	−0.05	0.45	0.84	−0.10
	26	1972	0.48	0.84	−0.07	0.39	0.87	−0.12
	36	1982	0.49	0.86	−0.02	0.34	0.91	−0.08
	43	1989	0.46	0.87	−0.03	0.26	0.92	−0.13
	53	1999	0.42	0.89	−0.04	0.22	0.93	−0.16
	60–64	2006–2010	0.39	0.88	−0.09	0.26	0.92	−0.12
1958 NCDS
	11	1969	0.68	0.87	0.23	0.68	0.87	0.24
	16	1974	0.65	0.86	0.17	0.44	0.87	−0.06
	23	1981	0.49	0.83	−0.07	0.39	0.85	−0.14
	33	1991	0.43	0.88	−0.04	0.29	0.92	−0.10
	42	2000	0.44	0.88	−0.02	0.29	0.91	−0.12
	44	2002	0.41	0.89	−0.04	0.27	0.93	−0.09
	50	2008	0.40	0.90	−0.03	0.27	0.93	−0.10
1970 BCS
	10	1980	0.65	0.81	0.08	0.64	0.84	0.13
	16	1986	0.54	0.80	−0.07	0.40	0.84	−0.15
	26	1996	0.34	0.91	−0.07	0.33	0.89	−0.13
	30	2000	0.44	0.87	−0.05	0.29	0.90	−0.14
	34	2004	0.42	0.88	−0.05	0.26	0.91	−0.14
	42	2012	0.39	0.89	−0.06	0.24	0.92	−0.15
2001 MCS
	11	2012	0.64	0.92	0.30	0.65	0.92	0.30
	14	2015	0.57	0.90	0.16	0.43	0.93	0.07

Table 4. Cross-sectional estimates of the Benn parameter.

	Age	Date	Males	Females
1946 NSHD
	11	1957	2.44	2.58
	15	1961	2.60	2.12
	20	1966	1.87	1.70
	26	1972	1.77	1.56
	36	1982	1.95	1.67
	43	1989	1.90	1.39
	53	1999	1.82	1.21
	60–64	2006–2010	1.66	1.41
1958 NCDS
	11	1969	2.61	2.69
	16	1974	2.50	1.79
	23	1981	1.79	1.51
	33	1991	1.85	1.52
	42	2000	1.92	1.46
	44	2002	1.84	1.52
	50	2008	1.87	1.49
1970 BCS
	10	1980	2.20	2.36
	16	1986	1.86	1.51
	26	1996	1.71	1.48
	30	2000	1.84	1.39
	34	2004	1.81	1.32
	42	2012	1.78	1.24
2001 MCS
	11	2012	3.11	3.12
	14	2015	2.61	2.34

Table 5. Estimated differences in the Benn parameter between cohorts at two ages.

	Males			Females
	B	95% CI	p	B	95% CI	p
10/11 years
1946 NSHD (referent)	–	–	–	–	–	–
1958 NCDS	0.17	0.03, 0.31	.02	0.10	−0.05, 0.25	.18
1970 BCS	−0.24	−0.38, −0.10	.001	−0.22	−0.38, −0.07	.005
2001 MCS	0.67	0.53, 0.81	<.001	0.53	0.38, 0.68	<.001
42/43 years
1946 NSHD (referent)	–	–	–	–	–	–
1958 NCDS	0.02	−0.20, 0.23	.88	0.08	−0.19, 0.35	.57
1970 BCS	−0.12	−0.34, 0.10	.28	−0.15	−0.42, 0.13	.30

Figure 1. Benn parameter trajectories for males, estimated using multilevel models.

Figure 2. Benn parameter trajectories for females, estimated using multilevel models.