Hajek A, König H-H
Department of Health Economics and Health Services Research, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
Public Health. 2017 Oct;151:81-86. doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2017.06.022. Epub 2017 Jul 25.
We aimed to investigate the relation between informal caregiving and body mass index (BMI) longitudinally.
The data were drawn from wave 2 (2002) to wave 5 (2014) of the German Ageing Survey. This is a representative sample of the community-dwelling population aged 40 years and above in Germany.
Self-rated BMI was used. Individuals were asked whether they provide informal care on a regular basis. Adjusting for employment status, age, marital status, morbidity and depressive symptoms, fixed effects regressions were used.
The fixed effects regressions showed that the onset of informal caregiving was not associated with changes in BMI in the total sample and in women, whereas the onset of informal caregiving was associated with increasing BMI in men (β = 0.15, P < 0.05). In addition, an increase in BMI was positively associated with ageing, an increase in morbidity and a decrease in frequency of sports activities in the total sample and in both sexes.
Our findings stress the longitudinal relation between informal caregiving and BMI in men. Consequently, it might be helpful to generate weight management strategies specifically designed for male informal caregivers.
我们旨在纵向研究非正式照料与体重指数（BMI）之间的关系。
数据取自德国老龄化调查的第2波（2002年）至第5波（2014年）。这是德国40岁及以上社区居住人口的代表性样本。
采用自我评定的BMI。询问个体是否定期提供非正式照料。在调整就业状况、年龄、婚姻状况、发病率和抑郁症状后，使用固定效应回归分析。
固定效应回归分析显示，在总样本和女性中，开始提供非正式照料与BMI变化无关，而在男性中，开始提供非正式照料与BMI升高有关（β = 0.15，P < 0.05）。此外，在总样本和两性中，BMI升高与衰老、发病率增加以及体育活动频率降低呈正相关。
我们的研究结果强调了男性非正式照料与BMI之间的纵向关系。因此，制定专门针对男性非正式照料者的体重管理策略可能会有所帮助。
