Limited stair-climbing ability and weight control in family medicine patients

To assess the association between self-assessed stair-climbing limitation and weight control among family medicine patients, after adjustment for age, gender, marital status, body mass index (BMI), and co-morbidity.

This study was a retrospective analysis of a cohort of 840 adult family medicine patient records drawn from a large family medicine department in Rochester, Minnesota. Weight control was measured as no change or decline in BMI over approximately 1 year.

Adjusting for co-morbidity and other confounders using multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that limited stair-climbing ability was unrelated to weight control over approximately 1 year. Instead, patients with BMI > or = 30 were more likely to control their weight (p<0.01), and age exhibited a non-linear relationship with weight control. The odds of weight control were lower for patients between the ages of 36 and 45 years than for those aged 18-35 years (p<0.01).

In our sample of family medicine patients, self-assessed stair-climbing limitations did not preclude weight control. Weight gain prevention programmes might be targeted at patients who are entering middle age.