Tracking the development of adiposity from one month of age to adulthood

Abstract

The development of adiposity was followed in 164 subjects from the age of one month to adulthood. The 25th and 75th centiles of the weight/height2 (W/H2) index were chosen as cut-off points to define the lean, medium and fat subjects at both one and 21 years of age. Only 42% of the children remained in their original category, that is 41% of the lean infants at one year stayed lean, 42% of the medium infants stayed medium and 41% of the fat infants stayed fat. Accordingly, most fat infants did not stay fat, but twice as many fat as non-fat infants became fat adults (41 and 20% respectively). The relative risk of being fat adults was 1 for the lean, 1 for the medium and 2 for the fat infants at one year. Several paths of development emerged: they were related to age at the second rise in adiposity, termed adiposity rebound, which usually occurs at about six years, as observed on skinfold thickness and W/H2 charts. The earlier the rebound, the higher the adiposity at adult age, whether this was measured by W/H2 index or subscapular skinfold. The cohorts of children who left the channel they had been following included fat infants with a late rebound who subsequently returned to normal, and lean infants with an early rebound who grew fatter. Other cohorts remained in their original groups, for example, fat infants with an early rebound who stayed fat and lean infants with a late one who stayed lean. Age at rebound provided two indications: the existence of a regulartory process among the transiently fat or lean infants who returned to average after a late or early rebound respectively, and pathological development among the children who became fat or lean after an early or late rebound. Age at rebound is an indicator of the subsequent development of fatness.

Early adiposity rebound in childhood and risk of Type 2 diabetes in adult life

“…The association has been described in one study [13]. Another study suggests that it reflected a post-weaning, infant diet that is low in fat but high in protein, followed by a childhood diet that is high in fat [16].…”

“…Previous studies have not related age at adiposity rebound to the later incidence of Type 2 diabetes. Early age at adiposity rebound has, however, been related to an increased incidence of obesity in childhood and adult life [13,14]. While an early adiposity rebound is associated with the development of both obesity and Type 2 diabetes, the paths of growth that lead to these two disorders differ.…”

Tracking excess weight and obesity from childhood to young adulthood: a 12-year prospective cohort study in Slovenia

“…Slovenia is a country that has experienced enormous socio-political and economical changes in the last 20 years, which strongly influenced the lifestyles, nutritional habits of children and youth, and their physical development (38)(39)(40)(41) . Studies in the USA and Europe that tracked obesity from childhood to adulthood generally found that about onethird of overweight and obese children remained overweight and obese as adults (24,(42)(43)(44)(45)(46) . In our cohort study, the percentage of overweight and obese 7-year-olds who became overweight or obese 18-year-olds was considerably higher (over 65 % among males and below 50 % among females).…”

Tracking of overweight from early childhood to adolescence in cohorts born 1988 and 1994: overweight in a high birth weight population

“…6,7,[26][27][28] Tracking of BMI from early childhood to mid-20s was estimated in Australian children born in the mid-1970s 1 and in Finnish children born in the early 1980s. 15 In the Finnish study the relative risk (RR) was used as the tracking coefficient and was 3.6 (2.0-6.3, 95% CI) of being of high level BMI at 15 years of age if one had been at high level BMI at the age of 7.…”