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. 2022 Oct;30(10):2064-2070.
doi: 10.1002/oby.23511. Epub 2022 Sep 2.

Weight gain among US adults during the COVID-19 pandemic through May 2021

David S Freedman  1 , Lyudmyla Kompaniyets  1 , Carrie Daymont  2 , Lixia Zhao  1 , Heidi M Blanck  2
Affiliations

Weight gain among US adults during the COVID-19 pandemic through May 2021

David S Freedman et al. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2022 Oct.

Abstract

Objective: There have been conflicting reports concerning weight gain among adults during the COVID-19 epidemic. Although early studies reported large weight increases, several of these analyses were based on convenience samples or self-reported information. The objective of the current study is to examine the pandemic-related weight increase associated with the pandemic through May 2021.

Methods: A total of 4.25 million adults (18 to 84 years) in an electronic health record database who had at least two weight measurements between January 2019 and February 2020 and one after June 2020 were selected. Weight changes before and after March 2020 were contrasted using mixed-effects regression models.

Results: Compared with the pre-pandemic weight trend, there was a small increase (0.1 kg) in weight in the first year of the pandemic (March 2020 through March 2021). Weight changes during the pandemic varied by sex, age, and initial BMI, but the largest mean increase across these characteristics was < 1.3 kg. Weight increases were generally greatest among women, adults with BMI of 30 or 35 kg/m2 , and younger adults.

Conclusions: The results indicate that the mean weight gain among adults during the COVID-19 pandemic may be small.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Differences in mean weights by calendar month (x‐axis) in 2020 (denoted by 0) and 2021 (denoted by 1) vs. those in 2019 (blue line at y = 0). Results are stratified by sex (columns) and age (rows). Values were calculated by subtracting the month‐specific mean 2019 weight in 2019 from those in 2020 (0) and 2021 (1). The first “1” among men < 60 years of age indicates that the mean weight in January 2021 was 0.47 kg higher than in January 2019 [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Predicted levels of weight by sex, BMI, and age based on sex‐specific mixed‐effects models. The x‐axis is time (y) relative to March 2020 [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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