Living alone and prediction of weight gain and overweight/obesity in university students: a retrospective cohort study.

Objective

To assess the clinical impact of living alone on weight gain in university students.

Participants

This retrospective cohort study included 17540 male and 8854 female university students admitted to a national university in Japan.

Methods

An association between living arrangement and the incidence of weight gain ≥10% and overweight/obesity (body mass index (BMI) ≥25 kg/m2) was assessed using multivariable-adjusted Poisson regression models.

Results

Weight gain was observed in 1889 (10.8%) male and 1516 (17.1%) female students during 3.0 and 2.9 years of the mean observational period, respectively. Living alone was identified as a significant predictor of weight gain (adjusted incidence rate ratio of living alone vs. living with family: 1.24 [1.13-1.36] and 1.76 [1.58-1.95] in male and female students, respectively) and was also as a predictor of overweight/obesity.

Conclusions

University students living alone were at a significantly higher risk of weight gain and overweight/obesity than those living with family.