The impact of body weight trajectory from childhood on chronic inflammation in adulthood: The Bogalusa Heart Study

ABSTRACT Importance The impact of long‐term burden of excessive body weight, beginning in childhood, on inflammatory status in adulthood has been poorly described. Objective To characterize the longitudinal body mass index (BMI) trajectory from childhood and examine its relationship with inflammatory status in adulthood. Methods We included 1285 adults who had 4–15 repeat measurements of BMI from childhood to adulthood. The area under the curve (AUC) of growth curves was calculated to characterize long‐term burden (total AUC) and trends (incremental AUC) of BMI. Results After adjusting for covariates, higher values of BMI in terms of childhood and adulthood, as well as total and incremental AUC, were strongly associated with elevated levels of adult C‐reactive protein (CRP) in the four race‐sex groups. There were significant differences in linear and nonlinear curve parameters between the normal and high CRP groups for all race‐sex groups ( P < 0.01). Compared with participants who had consistently low BMI in both childhood and adulthood, participants with high BMI in adulthood had higher CRP levels ( P < 0.001), irrespective of their childhood BMI status; participants with high BMI in childhood but low BMI in adulthood had similar adult CRP levels. Interpretation The impact of excessive body weight on inflammation is cumulative and exacerbated over time. The influence of childhood overweight/obesity on inflammatory status in adulthood can be alleviated by reducing adiposity in adulthood.