title: Risk factors for obesity in 7-year-old European children: the Auckland Birthweight Collaborative Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify risk factors associated with obesity in primary school children, with a particular focus on those which can be modified. To identify critical periods and growth patterns in the development of childhood obesity.
  
  
  METHODS
  871 New Zealand European children were enrolled in a longitudinal study at birth and data were collected at birth, 1, 3.5 and 7 years of age. Data collected at 7 years included weight, height, bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), television viewing time and a 24 h body movement record (actigraphy). The outcome measure was percentage body fat (PBF), which was calculated at 3.5 and 7 years using BIA. Univariate and multiple regression analyses were carried out using PBF as a continuous variable.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Multivariable analysis found maternal overweight/obesity, maternal age, female gender, sedentary activity time and hours of television viewing to be independently associated with PBF at 7 years. Growth variables (birth weight, rapid weight gain in infancy, early (1-3.5 years) and middle childhood (3.5-7 years)) were also independently associated with adiposity at 7 years. There was a strong correlation between PBF at 3.5 years and PBF at 7 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Many primary school aged children start on the trajectory of obesity in the preschool years, which suggests interventions need to start early. Maternal overweight/obesity, television watching, sedentary activity time and rapid weight gain in infancy, early and middle childhood are risk factors for childhood obesity, and are all potentially modifiable.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Nikki J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Blair
authors.forename: John M D
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: Peter N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Black
authors.forename: David M O
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Becroft
authors.forename: Phillipa M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Dug Yeo
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.forename: Karen E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Waldie
authors.forename: Chris J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Wild
authors.forename: Edwin A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Mitchell
mesh_terms: D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004032:Diet; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009520:New Zealand / Q000453:epidemiology; D009765:Obesity / Q000209:etiology*; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors