Unintentional weight loss, its associated burden, and perceived weight status in people with cancer

138 Background: Unintentional weight loss (WL) can be a disruptive symptom of cancer, yet its psychosocial impact is not well understood. We examined cancer survivors’ experiences with unintentional WL. Methods: 320 cancer survivors completed an online survey, provided demographic, health, and unintentional WL history, and rated (0 = not at all; 4 = extremely) 19 statements about WL outcomes. We examined bivariate associations between weight status, unintentional WL, and WL outcomes. Results: Participants were 90% White; mean age = 58.8 years, SD= 11; 41% breast cancer, 23% blood cancer, 8% prostate cancer, mean time since diagnosis = 6.0 years, SD= 5; 18% metastatic, 22% current recurrence/relapse, 51% remission. 55 participants (17%) reported unintentional WL in the past 6 months (mean = 16lbs; range = 2-70; mean BMI = 27.6, SD= 6.3). These participants were less likely to be in disease remission ( p< .05). Participants with unintentional WL tended to underestimate their weight category (e.g., of BMI-classified healthy weight participants, 26% believed they were underweight); κ = -.17, p< .01. 51% of participants felt (somewhat to extremely) positive about WL, 49% said their health care team was supportive of WL; these statements were more strongly endorsed by people describing themselves as overweight ( ps < .05). 27% believed WL caused physical weakness, 23% said WL resulted in lost control over nutrition/eating, 16% said WL made them feel like a burden, 14% said WL caused them to lose their identity; these statements were more strongly endorsed by people describing themselves as underweight ( ps < .01). 20% viewed their WL as a sign of approaching end of life, 13% believed WL meant they would not be able to continue treatment; these views did not differ by perceived weight status. Conclusions: Many cancer survivors experience unintentional weight loss and associate their weight loss with negative outcomes. Survivors also often underestimate their weight status, which is notable given that personal views of one’s weight status, not BMI-derived weight status, is associated with beliefs about the impact of unintentional weight loss. Our findings suggest that people believe unintentional WL meaningfully affects their quality of life.

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Trends in Self-perceived Weight Status, Weight Loss Attempts, and Weight Loss Strategies Among Adults in the United States, 1999-2016

JAMA Network Open ◽

10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.15219 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2 (11) ◽

pp. e1915219 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Liyuan Han ◽

Dingyun You ◽

Fangfang Zeng ◽

Xiaoqi Feng ◽

Thomas Astell-Burt ◽

...

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Weight Loss ◽

Weight Status ◽

The United States ◽

Perceived Weight ◽

Weight Loss Strategies

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College Students' Perceived Weight Status, Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices in Relation to BMI Classification

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e637992009-001 ◽

2009 ◽

Author(s):

Neisha-Ann Thompson ◽

Sylvan I. Alleyne

Keyword(s):

College Students ◽

Weight Status ◽

Attitudes And Practices ◽

Perceived Weight ◽

Knowledge Attitudes And Practices

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Weight Identity Among Older Adults in the United States: Genetic and Environmental Influences

The Oxford Handbook of Integrative Health Science ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190676384.013.16 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 262-274

Author(s):

Robbee Wedow ◽

Daniel A. Briley ◽

Susan E. Short ◽

Jason Boardman

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Older Adults ◽

Social Identity ◽

Weight Status ◽

Environmental Influences ◽

Subjective Assessment ◽

The United States ◽

Men And Women ◽

Perceived Weight ◽

Midlife Adults

This chapter uses twin pairs from the Midlife in the United States study to investigate the genetic and environmental influences on perceived weight status for midlife adults. The inquiry builds on previous work investigating the same phenomenon in adolescents, and it shows that perceived weight status is not only heritable, but also heritable beyond objective weight. Subjective assessment of physical weight is independent of one’s physical weight and described as “weight identity.” Importantly, significant differences are shown in the heritability of weight identity among men and women. The chapter ends by discussing the potential relevance of these findings for broader social identity research.

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Emotional Eating and Weight Status in Adolescents: A Systematic Review

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18030991 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (3) ◽

pp. 991

Author(s):

Christine A. Limbers ◽

Emma Summers

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Weight Loss ◽

Emotional Eating ◽

Weight Status ◽

English Language ◽

Gastric Bypass Surgery ◽

Study Results ◽

Weight Outcomes ◽

Prospective Association ◽

The One

Background: Despite evidence that emotional eating is associated with weight gain in adults, less is known about this association in adolescents. The purpose of the current study was to conduct a systematic review to assess the association between emotional eating and weight status in adolescents. This study also sought to describe existing measures of emotional eating in adolescents and explore weight-loss interventions that assessed emotional eating in relation to weight status in this population. Methods: Two independent reviewers searched the database PubMed for published or in press peer-reviewed studies that assessed the association between emotional eating and weight status in adolescents aged 12 to 19 years. Studies were excluded from this review if they were not written in the English language, did not include a measure of emotional eating, or were a dissertation study. Results: A total of 13 studies met full inclusion criteria and were included in the systematic review. Of the six longitudinal studies in the review, only one found a prospective association between emotional eating and weight status. The Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire was the most widely used measure of emotional eating in the systematic review (n = 6; 46.2%). The one intervention study included in this review found that baseline emotional eating was not associated with weight outcomes 2 years following gastric bypass surgery in obese Swedish adolescents (13–18 years). Conclusions: While there were some inconsistent findings across the studies included in this review, taken as a whole, the results largely do not support an association between emotional eating and elevated weight status or reduced weight loss in adolescents.

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