title: Mode of delivery and adiposity: Hong Kong's "Children of 1997" birth cohort.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine whether mode of delivery was associated with childhood adiposity in a developed non-Western context.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used generalized estimating equations to estimate the association of mode of delivery (vaginal or cesarean) with body mass index (BMI) z-score and overweight (including obesity) from 3 months to 13 years, in 7809 term birth (94% follow-up) from a population-representative Chinese birth cohort, "Children of 1997." We used multiple imputation for missing data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The cesarean section rate (26%) was higher for children born in private hospitals, with lower gestational age, lower birth order, higher maternal age, higher maternal BMI, and higher family socioeconomic position. Cesarean section was not associated with BMI z-score from 3 months to 13 years (mean difference, 0.03; 95% confidence interval, -0.02 to 0.09) or overweight from 3 years to 13 years (odds ratio, 0.98; 95% confidence interval, 0.77 to 1.25) after adjusting for infant and maternal characteristics and family socioeconomic position.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In a non-Western developed setting, mode of delivery was not clearly associated with BMI or overweight (including obesity) into late childhood. From a public health perspective, the role of mode of delivery and its mechanistic pathway in the current burgeoning epidemic of obesity needs to be clarified.
authors.affiliation: Lifestyle and Life Course Epidemiology Group, School of Public Health, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Shi Lin
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Gabriel M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Leung
authors.forename: C Mary
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Schooling
mesh_terms: D050154:Adiposity / Q000502:physiology*; D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001724:Birth Weight; D015992:Body Mass Index; D015331:Cohort Studies; D036861:Delivery, Obstetric / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006723:Hong Kong / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008423:Maternal Age; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
keywords: Adiposity; Cesarean section; China; Cohort study; Mode of delivery