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Pathways into and out of overweight and obesity from infancy to mid‐childhood
Author(s) -
Wright C. M.,
Marryat L.,
McColl J.,
Harjunmaa U.,
Cole T. J.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
pediatric obesity
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.226
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 2047-6310
pISSN - 2047-6302
DOI - 10.1111/ijpo.12427
Subject(s) - medicine , overweight , body mass index , obesity , pediatrics , childhood obesity , early childhood , birth weight , weight gain , body weight , demography , pregnancy , developmental psychology , psychology , sociology , biology , genetics
Summary Objectives To investigate whether high weight in infancy predicts obesity in childhood. Method Data from two UK cohorts (Newcastle Growth and Development N = 795, Gateshead Millennium N = 393) and one Finnish (Tampere N = 1262) were combined. Z scores of weight at 3 and 12 months and body mass index (BMI) at 5 and 8 years were categorized as raised/overweight (1 to <2 SD) or high/obese (≥2 SD). Results The majority of infants with raised or high weight at birth tended to revert to normal by 3 months and to track in the same category from 3 to 12 months. Although infants with high weight were five times more likely to have BMI ≥ 2 SD at 8 years ( p < 0.001), only 22% went on to have BMI ≥ 2 SD, while 64% of infants with raised weight had normal BMI at 8 years. Of children with BMI ≥ 2 SD aged 8 years, only 22% had raised weight in infancy and half had BMI ≥ 2 SD for the first time at that age. Conclusions Infants with raised weight in infancy tend to remain so, but most children who go on to have BMI ≥ 2 SD were not unusually heavy infants and the majority of infants with high weight reverted to overweight or normal weight in childhood.