Association between obesity and retirement: An analysis of Health and Retirement Study

Background

Obesity is a growing epidemic in the US. Currently, about 35% of the population are obese. Obesity is associated with chronic diseases and disability. However, there is limited research on the association between obesity and retirement.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of data from the 2010 wave of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). The HRS is a biennial panel survey of a nationally-representative sample of about 20,000 Americans of age 50 years. The survey tracks the changes in economic and health conditions of the labor force toward the end of work lives and after.

Restricting to files with complete data on all variables yielded 5486 records. We took retirement as the outcome and body mass index (BMI) as main exposure. The other exposures included demographic variables (gender, age, race and religion); physical measures (pulse and blood pressure), history of common chronic diseases and coverage by Medicare or Medicaid.  

Results

BMI was not associated with retirement status [(Overweight: AOR 1.07; 95% CI, 0.89-1.27); (Obese: AOR 0.95; 95% CI, 0.79-1.13). Most chronic diseases were positively associated with retirement, except diabetes and depression. Female were less likely to retire [AOR 0.59, 95% CI, 0.51-0.68]. People who did not have Medicare (AOR 0.18; 95% CI, 0.13-0.21) or Medicaid (AOR; 0.57, 95% CI, 0.43-0.74) coverage were less likely to be retired.

Conclusions/recommendations

Contrary to the earlier studies, we did not find an association between obesity and retirement. We recommend fuller examination of longitudinal data to guide policies in the area.