A descriptive study of ten-year longitudinal changes in weight and waist circumference in the multi-ethnic rural Northern Norway. The SAMINOR Study, 2003-2014

The obesity epidemic is dynamic with varying secular trends and differences between countries and ethnic groups. The objective of this study was to describe the age- and sex-specific longitudinal changes in weight and waist circumference in a rural Norwegian population with a high proportion of the indigenous Sami population. Based on two population-based surveys, SAMINOR 1 (2003–2004) and SAMINOR 2 (2012–2014), we present longitudinal changes in weight and waist circumference according to age at baseline in the SAMINOR 1 Survey and sex during the 10-year period. The analyses included 1538 men and 1958 women aged 36 to 69 at baseline (birth year 1934 to 1967). Forty-one percent of the population were Sami. Both weight and waist circumference were measured. The mean weight increased 0.8 kg (95% confidence interval: 0.5, 1.1) in men and 0.3 kg (95% confidence interval: 0, 0.5) in women. In both men and women, younger individuals gained significantly more weight during the 10-year follow-up than older participants (p