title: Weight fluctuation during childhood and cardiometabolic risk at young adulthood.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To test the hypothesis that greater weight fluctuation between 2 and 6 years is associated with an increase in weight measures (such as body mass index [BMI]) and cardiometabolic risk in young adulthood.
  
  
  METHODS
  Weight fluctuation (determined by BMI SD scores) was measured at least 3 times between the ages of 2 and 6 years in 166 girls and 116 boys from the Terneuzen Birth Cohort. Cardiometabolic risk factors in young adulthood include components of the metabolic syndrome and weight. The extent of weight fluctuation was determined by assessing each individual's SE (or variation) around each individual's linear regression slope (or weight slope). The obtained variation scores were subsequently related to adult BMI, other weight measures, and cardiometabolic risk factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In girls, greater weight fluctuation between 2 and 6 years was statistically significantly related to greater adult weight measures (1.08; 95% CI 1.01-1.15) and nonsignificantly with the metabolic syndrome. For boys weight fluctuation was not associated with adult weight (1.04; 95% CI 0.97-1.11), but weight slope was statistically significantly associated with adult overweight.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that weight fluctuations during early childhood are predictive for adult overweight in girls. For boys weight slope instead of weight fluctuation is predictive for adult overweight.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences and the EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Daniëlla
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: van de Langenberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences and the EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Electronic address: trynke.hoekstra@vu.nl.
authors.forename: Trynke
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hoekstra
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences and the EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jos W R
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Twisk
authors.affiliation: Department of Child Health, Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research, TNO, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jacobus P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: van Wouwe
authors.affiliation: Department of Public and Occupational Health and the EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Remy A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Hirasing
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences and the EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Carry M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Renders
authors.affiliation: Department of Public and Occupational Health and the EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Public Health, Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marlou L A
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: de Kroon
mesh_terms: D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D055815:Young Adult