title: Occurrence and timing of childhood overweight and mortality: findings from the Third Harvard Growth Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the mortality experience of participants in the Third Harvard Growth Study (1922-1935) who provided ≥ 8 years of growth data.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 1877 participants provided an average of 10.5 body mass index measurements between age 6 and 18 years. Based on these measurements, the participants were classified as ever overweight or ever >85th percentile for height in childhood. Age at peak height velocity was used to indicate timing of overweight relative to puberty. Relative risks of all-cause and cause-specific mortality according to measures of childhood growth were estimated using Cox proportional hazards survival analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For women, ever being overweight in childhood increased the risks of all-cause and breast cancer death; the risk of death from ischemic heart disease was increased in men. Men with a first incidence of overweight before puberty were significantly more likely to die from ischemic heart disease; women in the same category were more likely to die from all causes and from breast cancer.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We find evidence of long-term effects of having ever been overweight, with some evidence that incidence before puberty influences the pattern of risk.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA. aviva.must@tufts.edu
authors.forename: Aviva
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Must
authors.forename: Sarah M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: Elena N
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Naumova
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D000886:Anthropometry; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000401:mortality; D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality*; D050177:Overweight / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality; D015995:Prevalence; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012737:Sex Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology