Stature, weight, and body mass among young US children born at term with appropriate birth weights.
OBJECTIVE
To describe weight, stature, and body mass index (BMI) changes occurring before the age of 7 years, which may influence the prevalence of overweight in adolescence and adulthood.


METHODS
Regression models predicting height and weight at ages 2 months to 6. 75 years were based on the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Birth certificate data were used to adjust ethnic-specific models for birth weight for gestational age.


RESULTS
Attained height is higher for non-Hispanic black children than for either non-Hispanic white or Mexican American children (P </=.001). Weights at 2 months, 2 years, and 6.75 years are similar among racial/ethnic groups after adjustments. Mexican American children at ages 2 to 6.75 years had higher prevalences of BMI >85th percentile than either non-Hispanic white or black children (boys = 25.6%, SE = 2.7 compared with 14.1%, SE = 1.7 and 16.5%, SE = 1.7, respectively; girls = 21.9%, SE = 3.6 compared with 13.0%, SE = 1.7 and 13.7%, SE = 2.2, respectively). For non-Hispanic whites and Mexican Americans and for non-Hispanic black boys, BMI decreased slightly between ages 2 and 6.75 years; BMI for non-Hispanic black girls did not.


CONCLUSIONS
Size differences before the age of 7 years may influence later ethnic-specific overweight prevalence, independent of prenatal influences.
Overpeck
M D
MD
Division of Epidemiology, Statistics, and Prevention Research, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-7510, USA.
Hediger
M L
ML
Ruan
W J
WJ
Davis
W W
WW
Maurer
K R
KR
Troendle
J F
JF
Kuczmarski
R J
RJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry; D001724:Birth Weight; D044383:Black People; D001827:Body Height / Q000208:ethnology*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight / Q000208:ethnology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005865:Gestational Age; D006128:Growth; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D016018:Least-Squares Analysis; D016014:Linear Models; D017058:Mexican Americans; D008800:Mexico / Q000208:ethnology; D009765:Obesity / Q000208:ethnology*; D015995:Prevalence; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People; D001741:Black or African American