title: Infant weight gain and childhood overweight status in a multicenter, cohort study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether a rapid rate of weight gain in early infancy is associated with overweight status in childhood.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective, cohort study from birth to age 7 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twelve sites across the United States.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-seven thousand, eight hundred ninety-nine (27 899) eligible participants born at full term between 1959 and 1965.
  
  
  METHODS
  Overweight status at age 7 years, defined by a body mass index above the 95th percentile of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reference data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the 19 397 participants with complete data (69.6%), the prevalence of overweight status at age 7 years was 5.4%. The rate of weight gain during the first 4 months of life (as 100 g/month) was associated with being overweight at age 7 years, after adjustment for several confounding factors: odds ratio: 1.38; 95% confidence interval: 1.32-1.44. This association was present in each birth weight quintile, and remained significant after adjustment for the weight attained at age 1 year (odds ratio: 1.17; 95% confidence interval: 1.11-1.24).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A pattern of rapid weight gain during the first 4 months of life was associated with an increased risk of overweight status at age 7 years, independent of birth weight and weight attained at age 1 year. These findings may lead to new hypotheses regarding the cause of childhood obesity, which may contribute to our understanding of this increasing public health problem in the United States.
authors.affiliation: The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Division of Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4399, USA. nstettle@cceb.med.upenn.edu
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Stettler
authors.forename: Babette S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Zemel
authors.forename: Shiriki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumanyika
authors.forename: Virginia A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Stallings
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001724:Birth Weight; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008423:Maternal Age; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011247:Pregnancy; D015995:Prevalence; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D015430:Weight Gain / Q000502:physiology*