Can young adult smoking status be predicted from concern about body weight and self-reported BMI among adolescents? Results from a ten-year cohort study.

We sought to evaluate the relationship between the perception of being overweight and BMI (body mass index) when participants were adolescents and their cigarette smoking as young adults. In 1993, 1598 students in grade 6 from 107 schools in Scarborough (Ontario) completed the base line questionnaire. Of these, 1,543, 1,455 and 1,254 responded at follow-ups in grades 8 and 11, and as young adults (in 2002), respectively. Reported smoking behavior was used to categorize people as current and never smokers. Self-reported height and weight were used to calculate BMI. Girls who thought themselves overweight in grades 8 and 11 were more likely to be smoking as young adults (odds ratios of 1.778 and 1.627, respectively). Boys with higher self-reported BMIs in grades 8 and 11 were more likely to be smokers as young adults (odds ratios of 1.115 and 1.095, respectively). These findings provide evidence of the longitudinal effect of perception of being overweight as an adolescent on smoking as a young adult and suggest possible ways of averting smoking behavior.