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

Abstract

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.

Keywords:

• Living alone
• living arrangement
• overweight/obesity
• university students
• weight gain

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of Japan and received approval from the Ethics Committee of the Health and Counseling Center at Osaka University (No. 2020-7) and the Osaka University Hospital (No. 18352).

Funding

This research received no external funding.