Identifying Risk for Obesity in Early Childhood
From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:
A new research study of children's growth, published in the September issue of Pediatrics, can help parents and pediatricians determine the risk that a child will be overweight at age 12 by examining the child's earlier growth.
For example, the researchers discovered that preschool-age children who were medically determined to be overweight at one of three points of measurement before age 5 were more than five times as likely to be overweight at age 12 than those who were below the 85th percentile for body mass index (BMI) during the same period.
He said the group pursued the study because obesity is a major public health problem in the United States.
"Obesity produces physical and psychological health problems that lead to decreased life expectancy and increased health care costs," said Nader.
"This study is particularly important because it gives parents and health care providers new data on the likelihood a child will become overweight in early adolescence.
Nader and colleagues measured the heights and weights of participating children in the study at seven time points: three in the preschool age: two years, three years, and four-and-a-half years; three times in the school age period: seven, nine and 11 years; and finally, at age 12 years.
The group determined that 60% of children who were overweight at any time during the preschool period and 80% of children who were overweight at any time during the elementary period were overweight at age 12.
In children, height and weight is routinely collected by healthcare providers and calculation of BMI could be an important step in the path to early detection of a tendency towards becoming obese," said Nader.
Nader stated that if parents can prevent the escalating rate of weight gain as the child grows taller, parents will be able to keep the child in the lower normal BMI ranges, which will greatly decrease the chances of becoming obese in adolescence and possibly later in life.
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