Characteristics associated with excessive weight gain after smoking cessation in men

Data from two surveys of the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council Twin Registry, conducted 16 years apart, were used to determine characteristics of individuals that were predictive of excessive weight gain after smoking cessation.

Over the follow-up, 2179 men quit smoking and averaged a weight gain of 3.5 kg. Quitters were grouped into four categories of weight change: lost weight, no change, gained weight, and excessive weight gain ("super-gainers").

In comparison with quitters reporting no change in weight, super-gainers were younger, were of lower socioeconomic status, and differed on a number of health habits before quitting (all Ps < .05). At follow-up, super-gainers reported changes in health habits that were significantly different from those seen in quitters reporting stable weight (all Ps < .05). Pairwise concordance for weight change in 146 monozygotic and 111 dizygotic twin pairs in which both twins quit smoking was significantly greater in monozygotic than dizygotic pairs (P < .01).

These results indicate that super-gainers differ in important ways from those who do not gain weight after smoking cessation and that these weight changes may be influenced by underlying genetic factors.