EPT children had different sleep habits to term-born controls at 11 years of age, including those with no NDD. The prevalence of sleep problems increased with increasing NDD.

ObjectiveTo identify associations between the weight groups underweight (UW), overweight (OW) and obesity (OB) at 5 years of age and exposures related to pregnancy, anthropometric measures at birth, sociodemographic factors, and family health, anthropometric measures and habits.DesignRegional cohort study.SettingOppland County, Norway.MethodsPregnancy data were obtained from a prospective perinatal register for children born in the county, and weight and height were measured by midwives at birth and by public health nurses at 5 years. Other information was obtained from questionnaires completed by parents.ParticipantsOf 1895 eligible children, current weight and height were obtained for all, weight and length at birth and information from parents for 1119 (59%) and pregnancy register data for 749 (40%) of the children. The significance of potential explanatory variables from descriptive statistics was tested in multinomial logistic regression analysis.ResultsThe prevalence of UW, OW and OB among participants was 7.8%, 10.6% and 3.5%, respectively. UW was associated with anthropometric measures at birth and those of parents, but not with sociodemographic or behavioural characteristics. OW and OB were associated with anthropometric measures of parents and siblings and with a variety of unfavourable social characteristics, lack of prolonged breast feeding, sedentary behaviour and dental caries, but not with current dietary habits. After adjustments, OW and OB were marginally related to birth parameters and diet and unrelated to physical activity, but significantly related to parental body mass index, low parental education and maternal smoking.ConclusionThe strong associations between sociodemographic and behavioural factors and OW and OB, but not with UW, may suggest that environmental factors are major contributing causes of OW and particularly OB at 5 years. These results may be helpful in targeting preventive measures against OW and OB.

Aim The aim was to examine if breastfeeding practices were associated with body mass index (BMI) and risk of overweight or obesity in third grade (8 years) of elementary school. Methods In a regional cohort, we related BMI z‐scores and presence of overweight or obesity at 8 years of age with ever being breastfed and with duration of exclusive and partial breastfeeding after adjusting for potential confounders. Parents completed questionnaires on breastfeeding and sociodemographic and lifestyle factors at school entry, and public health nurses measured height and weight. For non‐participants, the nurses anonymously reported these measurements together with sex and age. Results 90% of participants had been breastfed. In adjusted analyses, BMI z‐scores were not significantly related to whether or not the child had been breastfed (P = .64), or to the duration of exclusive (P = .80) or partial breastfeeding (P = .94). Logistic regression also showed no significant association between breastfeeding measures and overweight or obesity. Conclusion This study on 8‐year‐old Norwegian children did not support a commonly held notion that breastfeeding reduces the risk of overweight or obesity.

The prevalence of overweight and obesity among children has increased throughout the world, and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 41 million children under five years of age are overweight or obese. 1 In Norway, 2 as in some other European countries, 3 the prevalence of overweight and obesity among children may have stabilized over the last 10-20 years. Despite this development, 16% of eight-year-old children, 2 and 13%-17% of children aged 2-19 years 4 in Norway were overweight or obese in studies published during the last decade. Children with obesity, and in particular adolescents, are at extremely high risk of being affected by obesity as adults, 5 and intervention studies to treat overweight and obesity in childhood have generally had limited or no success. 6-9 Furthermore, studies with some success have usually been evaluated after

ObjectiveTo examine if underweight (UW), overweight (OW) or obesity (OB), or body mass index (BMI) expressed as its SD score (BMI SDS), were associated with psychological difficulties in preschool children.DesignRegional cohort study.SettingOppland County, Norway.MethodsAt the routine school entry health assessment at 5–6 years of age, parents were invited to participate by local public health nurses. The parents completed questionnaires on sociodemographic, health and lifestyle factors of the child and the family, and on the child’s neurocognitive development. They assessed psychological health with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Public health nurses measured weight and height on all eligible children and reported age, sex, height and weight anonymously for the children who declined to participate.ParticipantsWe obtained information on 1088 of 1895 (57%) eligible children. The proportion of UW, OW and OB was slightly higher among the children who declined.Main outcome measuresSDQ subscale and Total Difficulties Scores.ResultsThe mean SDQ scores and proportion of scores ≥the 90th percentile had a curvilinear pattern from UW through normal weight (NW), OW and OB with NW as nadir, but the pattern was only significant for the mean Emotional problems, Peer problems and Total SDQ Scales, and for the Total SDQ Score ≥the 90th percentile (TDS90). After adjusting for relevant social, developmental, health and behavioural characteristics, TDS90 was only significantly associated with UW in multiple logistic regression analyses, and only with the lowest quartile of BMI SDS in a linear spline regression analysis.ConclusionsThe study suggests that UW and low BMI, but not OW, OB or higher BMI, are independent risk factors for having psychological symptoms in preschool children.