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Temporal patterns of self-weighing behavior and weight changes assessed by consumer purchased scales in the Health eHeart Study

Journal of Behavioral Medicine volume 42, pages 873–882 (2019)Cite this article

Abstract

Self-weighing may promote attainment and maintenance of healthy weight; however, the natural temporal patterns and factors associated with self-weighing behavior are unclear. The aims of this secondary analysis were to (1) identify distinct temporal patterns of self-weighing behaviors; (2) explore factors associated with temporal self-weighing patterns; and (3) examine differences in percent weight changes by patterns of self-weighing over time. We analyzed electronically collected self-weighing data from the Health eHeart Study, an ongoing longitudinal research study coordinated by the University of California, San Francisco. We selected participants with at least 12 months of data since the day of first use of a WiFi- or Bluetooth-enabled digital scale. The sample (N = 1041) was predominantly male (77.5%) and White (89.9%), with a mean age of 46.5 ± 12.3 years and a mean BMI of 28.3 ± 5.9 kg/m2 at entry. Using group-based trajectory modeling, six distinct temporal patterns of self-weighing were identified: non-users (n = 120, 11.5%), weekly users (n = 189, 18.2%), rapid decliners (n = 109, 10.5%), increasing users (n = 160, 15.4%), slow decliners (n = 182, 17.5%), and persistent daily users (n = 281, 27.0%). Individuals who were older, female, or self-weighed 6–7 days/week at week 1 were more likely to follow the self-weighing pattern of persistent daily users. Predicted self-weighing trajectory group membership was significantly associated with weight change over time (p < .001). In conclusion, we identified six distinct patterns of self-weighing behavior over the 12-month period. Persistent daily users lost more weight compared with groups with less frequent patterns of scale use.

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Funding

This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health [1U2CEB021881] and Salesforce Foundation.

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Author notes

  1. Geoffrey H. Tison and Mark J. Pletcher contributed equally as co-senior author.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Nursing, University of Pittsburgh, 360D Victoria Building, 3500 Victoria Street, Pittsburgh, PA, 15261, USA

    Yaguang Zheng

  2. School of Nursing and Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Susan M. Sereika & Lora E. Burke

  3. School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Jeffrey E. Olgin, Gregory M. Marcus, Kirstin Aschbacher, Geoffrey H. Tison & Mark J. Pletcher

Authors
  1. Yaguang Zheng
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  2. Susan M. Sereika
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  3. Lora E. Burke
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  4. Jeffrey E. Olgin
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  5. Gregory M. Marcus
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  6. Kirstin Aschbacher
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  7. Geoffrey H. Tison
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  8. Mark J. Pletcher
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Correspondence to Yaguang Zheng.

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Conflict of interest

Yaguang Zheng, Susan M. Sereika, Lora E. Burke, Jeffrey E. Olgin, Gregory M. Marcus, Kirstin Aschbacher, Geoffrey H. Tison, Mark J. Pletcher declare that he/she has no conflict of interest.

Human and animal rights and Informed consent

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of Institutional Review Board approval at UCSF and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This secondary analysis was also approved by the Institutional Review Board at Boston College. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. All participants provided remote, digital informed consent.

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Zheng, Y., Sereika, S.M., Burke, L.E. et al. Temporal patterns of self-weighing behavior and weight changes assessed by consumer purchased scales in the Health eHeart Study. J Behav Med 42, 873–882 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-018-00006-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-018-00006-z

Keywords

  • Self-weighing
  • Weight change
  • Behavior changes
  • Temporal pattern