title: Low and high birth weight as risk factors for obesity among 4 to 5-year-old Australian children: does gender matter?
abstract: Studies testing whether birth weight and childhood obesity differ by gender are lacking. We aimed to describe the relationship between birth weight and childhood overweight/obesity and investigate the influence that gender has on this relationship among 4 to 5-year-old children. We performed a secondary analysis of an Australian nationally representative cross-sectional study in 4 to 5-year-old children. The main outcome measure was child overweight and obesity. We found that low birth weight (LBW) was associated with lower risk of overweight/obesity among girls at 4-5 years before (OR 0.50, 95%CI 0.32, 0.77) and after adjusting for socio-demographic factors (OR 0.51 95% CI 0.33, 0.80) and ethnicity (OR 0.52, 95%CI 0.33, 0.81) but was not associated with child overweight/obesity among boys before or after adjustment. High birth weight (HBW) was associated with a higher risk of overweight/obesity among both girls (adjusted OR: 1.76, 95% CI 1.12, 2.78) and boys (adjusted OR: 2.42 95% CI 2.06, 2.86).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There are gender differences in the association of birth weight with child overweight/obesity. HBW was associated with a higher risk of child overweight/obesity in boys and girls before and after adjustment for socio-demographic factors. However, LBW was associated with a lower risk of child overweight/obesity in girls but not in boys. These gender differences need to be considered when planning interventions to reduce child overweight/obesity.
authors.affiliation: Cabrini Institute, Malvern, Melbourne, VIC, 3144, Australia. joldroyd@cabrini.com.au
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Oldroyd
authors.forename: Andre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Renzaho
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Skouteris
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D001724:Birth Weight; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors