ArticleJournal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle2023
Weight variability, physical functioning and incident disability in older adults.
Article in Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 6 citations in OpenAlex.
- Body weight and BMI variability linked to dementia risk: A meta-analysis.Biomolecules & biomedicine · 2025Pooled it
- Loss of Lean Mass in Rheumatoid Arthritis Is Associated With Loss of Total and Visceral Fat.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2026Article
- Metabolic Consequences of Rheumatoid Arthritis.Arthritis care & research · 2025Review
- Visit-to-visit body mass index variability in relation to longitudinal cognitive changes in Chinese adults: a retrospective cohort study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Longitudinal association between body mass index and handgrip strength in community-dwelling older adults: a population-based nationwide cohort study.BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- Association between body weight fluctuation and progression of radiographic knee osteoarthritis: a longitudinal cohort study.RMD open · 2025Article
- Weight variability, physical functioning and incident disability in older adults.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThis study aimed to determine if greater variability in body mass index (BMI) is associated with declines in physical functioning and incident disability in older adults.
methodsIncluded were participants from the Health, Aging and Body Composition Study who had semi-annual BMI data during the first 3 years of follow-up. Participants were categorized into quintiles of BMI variability, using two methods. The first method used average successive variability, whereas the second method adjusted these values to remove the variability due to net change in BMI over the 3-year period. Linear regression was used to assess the relationship between the two measures of BMI variability and net changes in BMI, fat mass index, appendicular lean mass index, and Health, Aging and Body Composition Physical Performance Score during the first 3 years of the study. Cox proportional hazard models were used to assess the relationship of BMI variability with the subsequent incidence of new disability, adjusting for confounding factors.
resultsAmong 2121 participants, those in the highest BMI variability quintile were more likely to lose both body mass (β: -0.086 [95% confidence interval, CI: -0.133, -0.040], P < 0.01) and fat mass (β: -0.059 [95% CI: -0.117, -0.002], P = 0.04) and had greater declines in physical performance score (β: -0.094 [95% CI: -0.162, -0.026], P < 0.01) compared to participants with the least variability in BMI. Participants with high BMI variability also had higher rates of incident disability (hazard ratio: 1.36 [95% CI: 1.07, 1.72], P = 0.01), independent of net BMI change.
conclusionsBMI variability in older adults is associated with decline in physical performance and incident disability. This relationship cannot be explained by net weight loss alone, supporting it as an independent feature of frailty.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.