Florida State University College of Medicine, Tallahassee, Florida, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2013 Jul 24;8(7):e70048. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0070048. Print 2013.
Weight discrimination is prevalent in American society. Although associated consistently with psychological and economic outcomes, less is known about whether weight discrimination is associated with longitudinal changes in obesity. The objectives of this research are (1) to test whether weight discrimination is associated with risk of becoming obese (Body Mass Index≥30; BMI) by follow-up among those not obese at baseline, and (2) to test whether weight discrimination is associated with risk of remaining obese at follow-up among those already obese at baseline. Participants were drawn from the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative longitudinal survey of community-dwelling US residents. A total of 6,157 participants (58.6% female) completed the discrimination measure and had weight and height available from the 2006 and 2010 assessments. Participants who experienced weight discrimination were approximately 2.5 times more likely to become obese by follow-up (OR = 2.54, 95% CI = 1.58-4.08) and participants who were obese at baseline were three times more likely to remain obese at follow up (OR = 3.20, 95% CI = 2.06-4.97) than those who had not experienced such discrimination. These effects held when controlling for demographic factors (age, sex, ethnicity, education) and when baseline BMI was included as a covariate. These effects were also specific to weight discrimination; other forms of discrimination (e.g., sex, race) were unrelated to risk of obesity at follow-up. The present research demonstrates that, in addition to poorer mental health outcomes, weight discrimination has implications for obesity. Rather than motivating individuals to lose weight, weight discrimination increases risk for obesity.
体重歧视在美国社会普遍存在。尽管与心理和经济结果密切相关，但人们对体重歧视是否与肥胖的纵向变化有关知之甚少。本研究的目的是：(1)在基线时不肥胖的人群中，通过随访检验体重歧视是否与肥胖风险（体重指数≥30; BMI）有关；(2)在基线时已经肥胖的人群中，检验体重歧视是否与随访时保持肥胖的风险有关。参与者来自健康与退休研究（Health and Retirement Study），这是一项对美国社区居民进行的全国代表性纵向调查。共有 6157 名参与者（58.6%为女性）完成了歧视测量，并在 2006 年和 2010 年的评估中提供了体重和身高数据。经历过体重歧视的参与者在随访时肥胖的可能性大约增加了 2.5 倍（OR=2.54，95%CI=1.58-4.08），而基线时肥胖的参与者在随访时肥胖的可能性增加了 3 倍（OR=3.20，95%CI=2.06-4.97），比那些没有经历过这种歧视的参与者更有可能肥胖。这些影响在控制人口统计学因素（年龄、性别、种族、教育）和将基线 BMI 作为协变量时仍然存在。这些影响也仅限于体重歧视；其他形式的歧视（如性别、种族）与随访时的肥胖风险无关。本研究表明，除了较差的心理健康结果外，体重歧视还会对肥胖产生影响。体重歧视并没有促使人们减肥，反而增加了肥胖的风险。
