Change in height, weight, and body mass index: longitudinal data from Austria.

Objectives: To quantify changes in height, weight and their compound effect on the body mass index (BMI) in a large cohort of Central-European men and women.

Methods: The Vorarlberg health monitoring and prevention program (VHM&PP) is a population-based risk factor surveillance program in Vorarlberg. Data of health examinations during January 1985 to June 2005 were available including 714,181 height and weight measurements in 185,192 persons (53.9% women). We estimated yearly percentage change of anthropometric parameters over the age range from 20 to 85 years within intervals of 5 years.

Results: We found that weight increased until the age of 70 years (from the age of 20 years: +24.8% in men and +27.6% in women), with the highest increase in men aged 20-25 years (1.07% per year). Height was shown to decrease starting from the age group 45-50 years. This decrease accelerated with age, and was more pronounced in women than in men.

Conclusions: Weight is strongly related to aging. In older individuals height loss affects BMI and masks weight loss to some degree.