title: Body mass index and cognitive ability of young children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study prospectively assessed the association between body mass index (BMI) and cognitive ability of young children, while accounting for confounding factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study included 236 children born between 1990 and 1994 participating in a Dutch birth cohort study. Anthropometric data of the children at birth, 4, and 7 years of age were collected from growth records or measured at the Academic Hospital of Maastricht. The Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) was used to assess cognitive ability at 7 years of age. The association between BMI and cognitive ability was investigated using univariate and multivariate linear regression analyses, including various covariates.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although the results suggest that cognitive ability at 7 years of age decreased with increasing BMI at 4 years and 7 years of age, this association was not significant in any performed analysis. Multivariate analyses showed that maternal intelligence was strongly associated with all scales of the K-ABC as a significant covariate. Adjusting analyses for physical fitness of the child, maternal education, maternal pre-pregnancy BMI, maternal smoking during pregnancy, and birth weight did not change the results.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study found no evidence for an association between BMI and cognitive ability of school-aged children.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Prevention and Health Services Research, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands. jorien.veldwijk@rivm.nl
authors.forename: Jorien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Veldwijk
authors.forename: Salome
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Scholtens
authors.forename: Gerard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hornstra
authors.forename: Wanda J E
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Bemelmans
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007360:Intelligence; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009765:Obesity / Q000523:psychology*; D011446:Prospective Studies