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Table 3 Associations between body mass index and intelligence in childhood, in older age, and from childhood to older age

From: Associations among height, body mass index and intelligence from age 11 to age 78 years

Predictor

Outcome

N

Predictor

Sex

Interaction

β

p

β

p

β

p

Childhood BMI

Childhood MHT

374

-.03

.58

.12

.02

-.01

.87

Older-age BMI

Older-age NART

356

-.10

.06

.03

.62

.03

.61

Older-age RSPM

354

-.02

.65

-.14

**

-.07

.21

Childhood BMI

Older-age BMI

392

.26

***

.02

.73

.02

.67

Childhood BMI

Older-age NART

341

-.06

.26

.02

.76

-.02

.67

Older-age RSPM

339

***

.99

-.15

**

.01

.85

Childhood MHT

Older-age BMI

388

-.04

.44

-.01

.81

***

.94

  1. BMI body mass index, MHT Moray House Test, NART National Adult Reading Test, RSPM Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices. Statistics reported are standardised β coefficients and uncorrected p values derived from generalised linear models. All variables were residualised over age at measurement before modelling. Although variables are modelled as ‘predictor’ and ‘outcome’ variables, direction of causation is not implied, particularly for contemporaneous associations. Significant results at p < .05 are highlighted in bold; ** p < .01; *** p < .001