Pacific D
Association Between College Attendance and Lower Risk of Obesity in a Nationally Representative Sample of Mid-life Adults (307877)
*Rachel D Radigan, SUNY Downstate Medical Center School of Public HealthJanet E Rosenbaum, SUNY Downstate SPH
Keywords: Education, Body Mass Index (BMI), Obesity, Matching, Selection Bias
Past research has found that educational attainment is protective against obesity, but the association may be explained by selection bias. This study evaluated whether participants in the nationally representative Midlife Development in the U.S. study (n=1960) with some post-secondary education were more likely to have a lower BMI 10 years later than matched adults with a high school diploma or less. We used multivariate linear regression after nearest propensity score matching on 12 baseline measures of demographics, health, socioeconomic, and contextual factors (n=1934). At follow-up, 63% of participants with some college or greater were overweight/obese versus 70% of participants with high school diploma or less (p<0.01). Participants who had attended at least some college had a lower BMI on average in multivariate linear regression before matching (-0.35 kg/m2, 95% CI -0.65 to -0.05), but after matching this relationship was not statistically significant (-0.22 kg/m2, 95% CI -0.50 to 0.06), suggesting that previous research may be explained by selection bias.