title: Analysis of BMI of preschool children--results of longitudinal studies.
abstract: Exceeding weight gain in childhood is a prevailing issue in industrialised countries, such as in Germany. The aim of this study was to detect a critical age for exceeding weight gain. It is assumed that especially in the early years of life, the years of nursery school age, the individual development of weight is fundamental for the prediction of obesity. The data of 638 children (324 boys and 314 girls) and the data of additional 1390 children of a preceding longitudinal study were analysed. The results show that overweight newborns are not at higher risk of becoming overweight children later, in the first place. But the results identify a high risk of becoming overweight for children 4.5-years-old through a BMI rebound. In addition, this comparably earlier BMI rebound is linked with an increasing percentage of body fat. This leads to the assumption, that a comparably early BMI rebound is remarkably atypical for healthy child development. The results are also interrelated with the test person's sex. Endangered girls are of pyknomorphic body type. In contrast, the boys' results are independent of the body type. Obesity of boys therefore is strongly assumed to be caused by environmental factors.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, Human Biology, Potsdam University, Germany. christiane.scheffler@uni-potsdam.de
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Scheffler
authors.forename: Grit
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schüler
mesh_terms: D001724:Birth Weight; D001823:Body Composition; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D013008:Somatotypes; D015430:Weight Gain