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The aim of this study was to determine whether excessive weight gain in the first six weeks, three months, or six months of life was correlated. with overweight and obesity at the age of 6 to 8 years. One hundred and thirty eight infants with excessive weight gain in the first six months of life, 53 children with slow weight gain, and 33 children with an average weight gain were re-examined at the age of 6, 7, or 8 years.

The mean height and weight of children who had gained weight rapidly in infancy were significantly higher than those of children who had gained weight slowly; those of infants whose weight gain had been average fell in between. The number of obese children in the rapid-weight-gain group was significantly higher than that of the combined average and slow-weight-gain groups. The rapidity of weight gain in infancy was a better guide to the risk of overweight in later childhood than the weight of the parents.

In a representative sample of 895 schoolchildren, aged between 9 years 10 months and 11 years 2 months, the risk of being overweight or obese was compared between those who had gained weight rapidly during infancy and those whose weight gain had been normal. A substantially increased risk ratio was found only in boys for whom a correlation analysis showed that the total weight gain during the first year of life was associated with the total body mass in relation to height, more or less independently of the degree of fatness at 10 1/2 years of age. In girls, a direct but very weak association was found between weight gain in infancy and the degree of fatness at 10 1/2 years. The implications of these findings with respect to aetiology and the possibilities of prevention are briefly discussed.

Many parents, grandparents, and clinicians have associated a baby’s ability to eat and gain weight as a sign of good health, and clinicians typically only call significant attention to infant growth if a baby is failing to thrive or showing severe excesses in growth. Recent evidence, however, has suggested that pediatric healthcare providers should pay closer attention to growth patterns during infancy. Both higher weight and upward crossing of major percentile lines on the weight-for-age growth chart during infancy have long term health consequences, and are associated with overweight and obesity later in life. Clinicians should utilize the numerous available opportunities to discuss healthy growth and growth charts during health maintenance visits in the first two years after birth. Further, providers should instruct parents on strategies to promote healthy behaviors that can have long lasting obesity preventive effects.

Objective:

To describe patterns of infant, childhood and adolescent body mass index (BMI) and weight associated with adult metabolic risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

Research Design and Methods:

We measured waist circumference, blood pressure, glucose, insulin and lipid concentrations, and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (NCEP-ATPIII definition) in 1,492 men and women aged 26-32 years in Delhi, India, whose weight and height were recorded 6-monthly throughout infancy (0-2 years), childhood (2-11 years) and adolescence (11 years-adult).

Results:

Men and women with metabolic syndrome (29% overall), any of its component features, or higher (>upper quartile) insulin resistance (HOMA) had more rapid BMI or weight gain than the rest of the cohort throughout infancy, childhood and adolescence. Glucose intolerance (impaired glucose tolerance or diabetes) was, like metabolic syndrome, associated with rapid BMI gain in childhood and adolescence, but with lower BMI in infancy.

Conclusions:

In this Indian population, patterns of infant BMI and weight gain differed for people who developed metabolic syndrome (rapid gain) compared with those who developed glucose intolerance (low infant BMI). Rapid BMI gain during childhood and adolescence was a risk factor for both disorders.

Objective: To determine the path of growth of girls who later develop coronary heart disease.

Design: Follow up study of girls whose body size at birth, during infancy, and childhood up to age 12 years was recorded.

Setting: Helsinki, Finland.

Participants: 4130 girls who were born between 1934 and 1944, attended child welfare clinics in Helsinki, and were still resident in Finland in 1971.

Main outcome measure: Hospital admission or death from coronary heart disease.

Results: In comparison with boys in the same cohort who later developed coronary heart disease the 87 girls were short at birth, rather than thin, had compensatory growth in height during infancy, became thin, and thereafter had a rapid increase in weight and body mass index. In a combined analysis the hazard ratios for coronary heart disease were 1.17 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03 to 1.32, p  =  0.02) for each 1 cm decrease in length at birth, 1.52 (95% CI 1.23 to 1.89, p < 0.001) for each standard deviation score increase in body mass index after age 3 years, and 1.63 (95% CI 1.09 to 2.42, p  =  0.02) for each decrease in level of education.

Conclusions: Though broadly similar, the paths of growth associated with the later development of coronary heart disease differ in girls and boys. This may be because girls are less vulnerable to undernutrition in utero and are better able to sustain postnatal growth in an adverse environment.

Spirometric data from 1586 healthy children, who did not smoke, were analysed to examine the effects of overweight as measured by the body mass index (weight/height2) on lung function. Overweight (72 boys, 88 girls) was defined as on or above the 90th percentile weight for height. After having controlled for the confounding variables of height and age, there were positive partial correlations between body mass index and lung function in girls whose weight was normal, in overweight girls, and in boys whose weight was normal, but not in overweight boys. In contrast to adults, body mass index has a positive effect on lung function in girls, whatever their weight. No such correlation between body mass index and lung function was seen in overweight boys. The observations may be accounted for by distinct sex dependent patterns of fat distribution in children.

Objective

To assess the contribution of postnatal factors to failure to thrive in infancy.

Methods

11 900 infants from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), born at 37–41 weeks' gestation, without major malformations and with a complete set of weight measurements in infancy (83% of the original ALSPAC birth cohort) were studied. Conditional weight gain was calculated for the periods from birth to 8 weeks and 8 weeks to 9 months. Cases of growth faltering were defined as those infants with a conditional weight gain below the 5th centile.

Results

Analysis yielded 528 cases of growth faltering from birth to 8 weeks and 495 cases from 8 weeks to 9 months. In multivariable analysis, maternal factors predicting poor infant growth were height <160 cm and age >32 years. Growth faltering between birth and 8 weeks was associated with infant sucking problems regardless of the type of milk, and with infant illness. After 8 weeks of age, the most important postnatal influences on growth were the efficiency of feeding, the ability to successfully take solids and the duration of breast feeding.

Conclusions

The most important postnatal factors associated with growth faltering are the type and efficiency of feeding: no associations were found with social class or parental education. In the first 8 weeks of life, weak sucking is the most important symptom for both breastfed and bottle‐fed babies. After 8 weeks, the duration of breast feeding, the quantity of milk taken and difficulties in weaning are the most important influences.

BACKGROUND

Infancy is a critical period for brain development. Few studies have examined the extent to which infant weight gain is associated with later neurodevelopmental outcomes in healthy populations.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this work was to examine associations of infant weight gain from birth to 6 months with child cognitive and visual-motor skills at 3 years of age.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We studied 872 participants in Project Viva, an ongoing prospective, longitudinal, prebirth cohort. We abstracted birth weight from the medical chart and weighed infants at 6 months of age. We used the 2000 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention growth charts to derive weight-for-age z scores. Our primary predictor was infant weight gain, defined as the weight-for-age z score at 6 months adjusted for the weight-for-age z score at birth. At 3 years of age, we measured child cognition with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test III and visual-motor skills with the Wide Range Assessment of Visual Motor Abilities.

RESULTS

Mean Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test III score was 104.2, and mean Wide Range Assessment of Visual Motor Abilities test score was 102.8. Mean birth weight z score was 0.21, and mean 6-month weight z score was 0.39. In multiple linear regression adjusted for child age, gender, gestational age, breastfeeding duration, primary language, and race/ethnicity; maternal age, parity, smoking status, and cognition; and parental education and income level, we found no association of infant weight gain with child Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test III score (−0.4 points per z score weight gain increment, 95% confidence interval −1.3, 0.6) or total Wide Range Assessment of Visual Motor Abilities standard score (−0.4 points, 95% confidence interval −1.2, 0.5).

CONCLUSIONS

Slower infant weight gain was not associated with poorer neurodevelopmental outcomes in healthy, term-born 3-year-old children. These results should aid in determining optimal growth patterns in infants to balance risks and benefits of health outcomes through the life course.

Purpose

Early growth patterns have been associated with subsequent obesity risk. However, findings from middle-income populations suggest that early infant growth may benefit lean mass and height rather than adiposity. We tested the hypothesis that rapid weight or length gain in different growth periods would be associated with size and body composition in adolescence, in a prospective birth cohort from southern Brazil.

Methods

Body composition was assessed in 425 adolescents (52.2% male) at 14 years. Exposures were birth weight z-score and conditional growth in weight or length for the periods 0–6, 6–12 and 12–48 months. Differences in anthropometric and body composition outcomes between tertiles of growth in each period were tested by one-way analysis of variance.

Results

Size at birth and conditional weight and length at 6 months were associated with later height. The effect of infant weight gain on lean mass was greater for males than females, and effect on fat mass greater for females than males. By early childhood, rapid weight gain generated relatively similar effects on both tissue masses in both sexes. Rapid length gain had stronger effects on outcomes in males than females at each time point, and benefited lean mass more than adiposity. All effects were substantially attenuated after adjusting for current height. Early weight gain was more important than length gain at influencing body composition outcomes in adolescence.

Conclusions

Rapid infant weight and length gains were primarily associated with larger size in adolescence rather than increased adiposity. From one year onwards, associations between rapid weight gain and fat and lean masses remained after adjustment for height.

The prevalence of overweight at ages 7 and 11 years and in late adolescence was compared in two nationally representative cohorts of British children born in 1946 and 1958. Overweight was defined as weight that exceeded the standard weight for height, age, and sex by more than 20% (relative weight greater than 120%). The prevalence of overweight among 7 year olds born in 1958 was nearly twice that among those born in 1946. Changes in infant feeding practices, food supply, and level of physical activity might be responsible for this difference. By adolescence the prevalence of obesity in both cohorts had increased but the difference between cohorts had almost disappeared. Around 9% of adolescent girls and 7% of adolescent boys were overweight. If infant feeding practices have an influence on prevalence of overweight at 7 years the data from the two cohorts suggest that such an effect does not persist. In neither cohort was there a significant relation between the prevalence of obesity and social class in boys, but in girls the prevalence was higher among those from the lower socioeconomic groups. Correlation coefficients showing the strength of the relation between relative weights at different ages were remarkably similar for both cohorts. The risk of being obese later in childhood for those who had not been obese at the age of 7 was less than one in 10, whereas for those with a relative weight greater than 130% the risk exceeded six in 10.

Objective

This study examined the relationship between weight status and self-concept in a sample of preschool-aged girls and whether parental concern about child overweight or restriction of access to food are associated with negative self-evaluations among girls.

Method

Participants were 197 5-year-old girls and their parents. Girls’ weight status (weight for height percentile) was calculated based on height and weight measurements. Girls’ self-concept was assessed using an individually administered questionnaire. Parents’ concern about their child’s weight status and restriction of their child’s access to food were assessed using a self-report questionnaire.

Results

Girls with higher weight status reported lower body esteem and lower perceived cognitive ability than did girls with lower weight status. Independent of girl’s weight status, higher paternal concern about child overweight was associated with lower perceived physical ability among girls; higher maternal concern about child overweight was associated with lower perceived physical and cognitive ability among girls. Finally, higher maternal restriction of girls’ access to foods was associated with lower perceived physical and cognitive ability among girls with higher weight status but not among girls with lower weight status.

Conclusions

At least as early as age 5 years, lower self-concept is noted among girls with higher weight status. In addition, parents’ concern about their child’s weight status and restriction of access to food are associated with negative self-evaluations among girls. Public health programs that raise parental awareness of childhood overweight without also providing constructive and blame-free alternatives for addressing child weight problems may be detrimental to children’s mental health.

To examine the association between body mass index (BMI) percentile and asthma in children 2–11 years of age, we performed a cross-sectional analysis of 853 Black and Hispanic children from a community-based sample of 2- to 11-year olds with measured heights and weights screened for asthma by the Harlem Children’s Zone Asthma Initiative. Current asthma was defined as parent/guardian-reported diagnosis of asthma and asthma-related symptoms or emergency care in the previous 12 months. Among girls, asthma prevalence increased approximately linearly with increasing body mass index (BMI) percentile, from a low of 12.0% among underweight girls (BMI ≤5th percentile) to a high of 33.3% among girls at risk for overweight (BMI 85th–94th percentile). Among boys, asthma prevalence was associated in a U-shaped curve with the extremes of BMI percentile, that is, 36.4% among underweight boys, 19.1% among normal weight boys (BMI 6th–84th percentile), and 34.8% among overweight boys (>95th percentile). After adjusting for age, race/ethnicity, and household smoking, among girls, having asthma was associated with being at risk for overweight (odds ratio [OR], 2.6; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.4–5.0) and being overweight (OR, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.2–3.8) compared to normal weight; among boys, having asthma was associated both with overweight (OR, 2.4; 95% CI, 1.4–4.3) and with underweight (OR, 2.9; 95% CI, 1.1–7.7). Large, prospective studies that include very young children are needed to further explore the observed association between underweight and asthma among boys. Early interventions that concomitantly address asthma and weight gain are needed among pre-school and school-aged children.

OBJECTIVE

We examined associations of birth weight and weight gain in infancy and early childhood with type 2 diabetes (DM) risk in five cohorts from low- and middle-income countries.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

Participants were 6,511 young adults from Brazil, Guatemala, India, the Philippines, and South Africa. Exposures were weight at birth, at 24 and 48 months, and adult weight, and conditional weight gain (CWG, deviation from expected weight gain) between these ages. Outcomes were adult fasting glucose, impaired fasting glucose or DM (IFG/DM), and insulin resistance homeostasis model assessment (IR-HOMA, three cohorts).

RESULTS

Birth weight was inversely associated with adult glucose and risk of IFG/DM (odds ratio 0.91[95% CI 0.84–0.99] per SD). Weight at 24 and 48 months and CWG 0–24 and 24–48 months were unrelated to glucose and IFG/DM; however, CWG 48 months–adulthood was positively related to IFG/DM (1.32 [1.22–1.43] per SD). After adjusting for adult waist circumference, birth weight, weight at 24 and 48 months and CWG 0–24 months were inversely associated with glucose and IFG/DM. Birth weight was unrelated to IR-HOMA, whereas greater CWG at 0–24 and 24–48 months and 48 months–adulthood predicted higher IR-HOMA (all P < 0.001). After adjusting for adult waist circumference, birth weight was inversely related to IR-HOMA.

CONCLUSIONS

Lower birth weight and accelerated weight gain after 48 months are risk factors for adult glucose intolerance. Accelerated weight gain between 0 and 24 months did not predict glucose intolerance but did predict higher insulin resistance.

Background

Rapid weight gain in infancy is an important predictor of obesity in later childhood. Our aim was to determine which modifiable variables are associated with rapid weight gain in early life.

Methods

Subjects were healthy infants enrolled in NOURISH, a randomised, controlled trial evaluating an intervention to promote positive early feeding practices. This analysis used the birth and baseline data for NOURISH. Birthweight was collected from hospital records and infants were also weighed at baseline assessment when they were aged 4-7 months and before randomisation. Infant feeding practices and demographic variables were collected from the mother using a self administered questionnaire. Rapid weight gain was defined as an increase in weight-for-age Z-score (using WHO standards) above 0.67 SD from birth to baseline assessment, which is interpreted clinically as crossing centile lines on a growth chart. Variables associated with rapid weight gain were evaluated using a multivariable logistic regression model.

Results

Complete data were available for 612 infants (88% of the total sample recruited) with a mean (SD) age of 4.3 (1.0) months at baseline assessment. After adjusting for mother's age, smoking in pregnancy, BMI, and education and infant birthweight, age, gender and introduction of solid foods, the only two modifiable factors associated with rapid weight gain to attain statistical significance were formula feeding [OR = 1.72 (95%CI 1.01-2.94), P = 0.047] and feeding on schedule [OR = 2.29 (95%CI 1.14-4.61), P = 0.020]. Male gender and lower birthweight were non-modifiable factors associated with rapid weight gain.

Conclusions

This analysis supports the contention that there is an association between formula feeding, feeding to schedule and weight gain in the first months of life. Mechanisms may include the actual content of formula milk (e.g. higher protein intake) or differences in feeding styles, such as feeding to schedule, which increase the risk of overfeeding.

Trial Registration

Australian Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12608000056392

Background

Although there is longstanding evidence of the short-term benefits of promoting rapid growth for young children in low-income settings, more recent studies suggest that early weight gain can also increase the risk of chronic diseases in adults. This paper attempts to separate the effects of early life weight and length/height gains on blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), sum of skin folds and subscapular/triceps skin fold ratio at 14–15 years of age.

Methods

The sample comprised 833 members of a prospective population-based birth cohort from Brazil. Conditional size (weight or height) analyses were used to express the difference between observed size at a given age and expected size based on a regression, including all previous measures of the same anthropometric index. A positive conditional weight or height indicates growing faster than expected given prior size.

Results

Conditional weights at all age ranges were positively associated with most outcomes; each z-score of conditional weight at 4 years was associated with an increase of 6.1 mm in the sum of skin folds (95% CI 4.5 to 7.6) in adolescence after adjustment for conditional length/height. Associations of the outcomes with conditional length/height were mostly negative or non-significant—each z-score was associated with a reduction of 2.4 mm (95% CI −3.8 to −1.1) in the sum of skin folds after adjustment for conditional weight. No associations were found with the skin fold ratio.

Conclusion

The promotion of rapid length/height gain without excessive weight gain seems to be beneficial for long-term outcomes, but this requires confirmation from other studies.

Background Weight gain during infancy may programme later health outcomes, but examination of this hypothesis requires appropriate lifecourse methods and detailed weight gain measures during childhood. We examined associations between weight gain in infancy and early childhood and blood pressure at the age of 6.5 years in healthy children born at term.

Methods We carried out an observational analysis of data from a cluster-randomized breastfeeding promotion trial in Belarus. Of 17 046 infants enrolled between June 1996 and December 1997, 13 889 (81.5%) had systolic and diastolic blood pressure measured at 6.5 years; 10 495 children with complete data were analysed. A random-effects linear spline model with three knot points was used to estimate each individual's birthweight and weight gain from birth to 3 months, 3 months to 1 year and 1–5 years. Path analysis was used to separate direct effects from those mediated through subsequent weight gain.

Results In boys, after controlling for confounders and prior weight gain, the change in systolic blood pressure per z-score increase in weight gain was 0.09 mmHg [95% confidence interval (95% CI) −0.14 to 0.31] for birthweight; 0.41 mmHg (95% CI 0.19–0.64) for birth to 3 months; 0.69 mmHg (95% CI 0.47–0.92) for 3 months to 1 year and 0.82 mmHg (95% CI 0.58–1.06) for 1–5 years. Most of the associations between weight gain and blood pressure were mediated through weight at the age of 6.5 years. Findings for girls and diastolic blood pressure were similar.

Conclusions Children who gained weight faster than their peers, particularly at later ages, had higher blood pressure at the age of 6.5 years, with no association between birthweight and blood pressure.

Background

There is evidence that rapid weight gain during the first year of life is associated with overweight later in life. However, results from studies exploring other critical periods for the development of overweight are inconsistent.

Objective

The objective was to investigate BMI development to assess at what ages essential differences between normal weight and overweight children occur, and to assess which age intervals the most strongly influence the risk of overweight at 8 years of age.

Methods

Longitudinal weight and height data were collected by annual questionnaires in a population of 3963 children participating in the PIAMA birth cohort study. BMI and BMI standard deviation scores (SDS) were calculated for every year from birth until 8 years of age. BMI, BMI SDS and BMI SDS change in each 1-year-age interval were compared between children with and without overweight at 8 years of age, using t-tests, logistic regression analysis and the analysis of response profiles method.

Results

At 8 years of age, 10.5% of the children were overweight. Already at the age of 1 year, these children had a significantly higher mean BMI SDS than normal weight 8-year-olds, (0.53 vs 0.04). In each 1-year-age interval the change in BMI SDS was significantly associated with overweight at 8 years with odds ratios increasing from 1.14 (95% CI 1.04–1.24) per 1 SDS increase at 0–1 year to 2.40 (95% CI 2.09–2.76) at 7–8 years.

Conclusion

At every age, starting already in the first year of life, a rapid increase in BMI SDS was significantly associated with overweight risk at the age of 8 years. There was no evidence for a specific critical period for the development of overweight. Prevention of overweight should start early in life and be continued with age-specific interventions throughout childhood.

Background. Prevalence of the metabolic syndrome is increasing in pediatric age groups worldwide. Meeting the criteria for the metabolic syndrome puts children at risk for later cardiovascular and metabolic disease. Methods. Using linear regression, we examined the association between infant weight gain from birth to 3 months and risk for the metabolic syndrome among 16- to 17-year-old Chilean adolescents (n = 357), accounting for the extent of breastfeeding in infancy and known covariates including gender, birth weight, and socioeconomic status. Results. Participants were approximately half male (51%), born at 40 weeks of gestation weighing 3.5 kg, and 48% were exclusively breastfed for ≥90 days. Factors independently associated with increased risk of metabolic syndrome in adolescence were faster weight gain in the first 3 months of life (B = 0.16, P < 0.05) and male gender (B = 0.24, P < 0.05). Breastfeeding as the sole source of milk for ≥90 days was associated with significantly decreased risk of metabolic syndrome (B = −0.16). Conclusion. This study adds to current knowledge about early infant growth and breastfeeding and their long-term health effects.

Background

The health benefits of physical activity for children are well established. Although objective measures of physical activity are increasingly used there is still a lack of adequate data on physical activity in children. Sex differences in physical activity have been consistently demonstrated and lower levels of physical activity in obese than non-obese children have been shown. However, differences across the whole weight spectrum have not been examined in detail. The aim of this study was to assess associations between physical activity and sedentary time across the weight spectrum in children, and to determine whether the associations differed by sex.

Methods

Participants in the current study were 176 boys and 169 girls aged 8–9 years old taking part in a longitudinal study of associations between eating behaviours, physical activity and weight gain during childhood. Height, weight and waist circumference were measured, and physical activity data were collected using an Actigraph model GT1M worn for 5 consecutive days. Associations between sex, weight and physical activity were analysed using linear regression models.

Results

Boys had higher total activity (mean difference = 119, p < 0.001) and more minutes of moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA) (mean difference = 25, p < 0.001) than girls. A higher percentage of boys (72%) than girls (30%) met current physical activity guidelines of 60 minutes MVPA per day. In boys, weight status significantly predicted total activity (p = 0.001) and MVPA (p = 0.001) but there were no significant associations in girls. There was no significant difference in time spent sedentary between boys and girls, and weight status did not predict sedentary time.

Conclusion

In boys, physical activity was progressively lower across the weight spectrum, but in girls physical activity was consistently low across all weight categories. Intervention is required prior to 8 years old to prevent weight-related declines in physical activity in boys and further research is required to determine at what age, if ever, weight related differences in physical activity are apparent in girls.

The relative importance of dietary and familial factors in determining weight in early infancy were studied in 203 5-year-old children. Their age at weaning, energy intake in infancy and at 5 years, and maternal percentage expected weight were studied in relation to their percentage expected weight. Neither the estimated energy intake in infancy nor the intake at 5 years correlated significantly with their percentage expected weight at 5 years. Overweight 5-year-olds had not been weaned earlier than normal-weight 5-year-olds. There was a significant correlation between the percentage expected weights of the mothers and those of their children at 5 years of age, although the children of overweight mothers did not have higher energy intakes than the children of underweight mothers. A familial, perhaps genetically determined, tendency to overweight seems to be more important in determining whether a child will be overweight at 5 years old than early weaning and overfeeding in infancy.

Cross-sectional studies have reported significant temporal increases in prevalence of childhood obesity in both genders and various racial groups, but recently the rise has subsided. Childhood obesity prevention trials suggest that, on average, overweight/obese children lose body weight and non-overweight children gain weight. This investigation tested the hypothesis that overweight children lose body weight/fat and non-overweight children gain body weight/fat using a longitudinal research design that did not include an obesity prevention program. The participants were 451 children in 4th to 6th grades at baseline. Height, weight, and body fat were measured at Month 0 and Month 28. Each child’s body mass index (BMI) percentile score was calculated specific for their age, gender and height. Higher BMI percentile scores and percent body fat at baseline were associated with larger decreases in BMI and percent body fat after 28 months. The BMI percentile mean for African-American girls increased whereas BMI percentile means for white boys and girls and African-American boys were stable over the 28 month study period. Estimates of obesity and overweight prevalence were stable because incidence and remission were similar. These findings support the hypothesis that overweight children tend to lose body weight and non-overweight children tend to gain body weight.

Objective

Weight gain and growth in early life may influence adult pro-inflammatory and pro-thrombotic cardiovascular risk factors.

Methods

Follow-up of a birth cohort in New Delhi, India, whose weight and height were measured 6-monthly until age 21 years. BMI at birth, during infancy (2 years), childhood (11 years) and adulthood (26-32 years) and BMI gain between these ages were analyzed in 886 men and 640 women in relation to adult fibrinogen, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI-1) concentrations.

Results

All the pro-inflammatory/pro-thrombotic risk factors were higher in participants with higher adiposity. In women, BMI at birth and age 2 years was inversely related to fibrinogen (p=0.002 and 0.05) and, after adjusting for adult adiposity, to hsCRP (p=0.02 and 0.009). After adjusting for adult adiposity, BMI at 2 years was inversely related to hsCRP and PAI-1 concentrations (p<0.001 and p=0.02) in men. BMI gain between 2-11 years and/or 11 years to adulthood was positively associated with fibrinogen and hsCRP in women and with hsCRP and PAI-1 in men.

Conclusions

Thinness at birth or during infancy, and accelerated BMI gain during childhood/adolescence are associated with a pro-inflammatory/pro-thrombotic state in adult life. An altered inflammatory state could be one link between small newborn/infant size and adult cardiovascular disease. Associations between pro-inflammatory markers and childhood/adolescent BMI gain are probably mediated through adult adiposity.

Growth monitoring in infancy is a useful tool for detecting growth disorders and failure to thrive. However, current weight charts do not monitor growth as such, they only identify infants whose weight centile is low and/or falling. A reference of conditional weight gain is described which compares an infant's current weight with that predicted from their previous weight, allowing for the fact that on average, light infants tend to grow faster than heavier infants. The reference, which expresses conditional weight gain as an SD score of centile, is based on the UK 1990 weight reference supplemented with correlation data on 223 infants from the Cambridge Infant Growth Study measured regularly between 4 weeks and 2 years of age. The reference is validated with data on 727 infants from the Newcastle Regional Health Authority database. The conditional reference provides a valid assessment of the weight gain of British infants, over time periods of four or more weeks, throughout the first two years of life.

Background

Rapid weight gain during the first three years of life predicts child and adult obesity, and also later cardiovascular and other morbidities. Cross-sectional studies suggest that infant diet, activity and sleep are linked to excessive weight gain. As intervention for overweight children is difficult, the aim of the Prevention of Overweight in Infancy (POI.nz) study is to evaluate two primary prevention strategies during late pregnancy and early childhood that could be delivered separately or together as part of normal health care.

Methods/Design

This four-arm randomised controlled trial is being conducted with 800 families recruited at booking in the only maternity unit in the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. Mothers are randomised during pregnancy to either a usual care group (7 core contacts with a provider of government funded "Well Child" care over 2 years) or to one of three intervention groups given education and support in addition to "Well Child" care: the Food, Activity and Breastfeeding group which receives 8 extra parent contacts over the first 2 years of life; the Sleep group which receives at least 3 extra parent contacts over the first 6 months of life with a focus on prevention of sleep problems and then active intervention if there is a sleep problem from 6 months to 2 years; or the Combination group which receives all extra contacts. The main outcome measures are conditional weight velocity (0-6, 6-12, 12-24 months) and body mass index z-score at 24 months, with secondary outcomes including sleep and physical activity (parent report, accelerometry), duration of breastfeeding, timing of introduction of solids, diet quality, and measures of family function and wellbeing (parental depression, child mindedness, discipline practices, family quality of life and health care use). This study will contribute to a prospective meta-analysis of early life obesity prevention studies in Australasia.

Discussion

Infancy is likely to be the most effective time to establish patterns of behaviour around food, activity and sleep that promote healthy child and adult weight. The POI.nz study will determine the extent to which sleep, food and activity interventions in infancy prevent the development of overweight.

Trial Registration

Clinical Trials NCT00892983

Prospective meta-analysis registered on PROSPERO CRD420111188. Available from http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO

Accepted 19 July 1996


Growth was studied in 83 children with cleft lip and/or palate aged 0-4 years attending a specialist regional centre. Information was collected by a personal interview, postal questionnaire, and record review. The group as a whole grew relatively poorly in early infancy but subsequently recovered, attaining both expected weight and height by last follow up at age 25.5 months (range 3 to 47). However, the group proved heterogeneous, with children with isolated clefts of the secondary palate showing the most abnormal growth. Children with underlying syndromes were significantly more likely to be short at follow up, while type or severity of cleft was not significantly related to follow up height. Therefore, while cleft palate was associated with significant growth faltering in early infancy, rapid recovery took place following surgical repair and appears to have resulted in no residual growth deficit.