title: Rapid growth in early childhood associated with young adult overweight and obesity--evidence from a community based cohort study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Rapid weight gain in early life may increase the risk of overweight and obesity in adulthood. We investigated the association between the rate of growth during early childhood and the development of overweight and obesity in young adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used a prospective cohort study of 2077 young adults who were born between 1981 and 1984 in Brisbane, Australia and had anthropometry measurements available at birth, 6 months, 5 years, 14 years and 21 years of age. The associations of rate of early growth with body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and their categories at 21 years were studied using multivariate analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that rapid weight gain [> + 0.67 standard deviation score (SDS)] in the first 5 years of life was associated with young adults' overweight status (BMI: adjusted OR = 2.35, 95% CI, 1.82-3.03; WC: adjusted OR = 2.20, 95% CI, 1.65-2.95). We also observed that slow weight gain in the first 5 years of age (< -0.67 SDS) was inversely associated with overweight (BMI: OR = 0.62, 95% CI, 0.45-0.84). Such associations were not found with WHR. Rapid weight gain in the first 6 months of life increased the risk of overweight as defined by BMI (adjusted OR = 1.13, 95% CI, 0.86-1.49) and WC (adjusted OR = 1.24, 95% CI, 0.92-1.67), but these associations were not statistically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Rapid weight gain in the first 5 years of life in children increased their risk of a higher BMI and WC in young adulthood, in contrast slow weight gain was inversely associated with weight status at 21 years.
authors.affiliation: School of Population Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. r.sutharsan@griffith.edu.au.|Eskitis Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia. r.sutharsan@griffith.edu.au.
authors.forename: Ratneswary
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sutharsan
authors.affiliation: Mater Children's Hospital, Brisbane, and The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. mocalla1@bigpond.net.au.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: O'Callaghan
authors.affiliation: School of Population Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. g.williams@sph.uq.edu.au.
authors.forename: Gail
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: School of Population Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. J.najman@uq.edu.au.|School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. J.najman@uq.edu.au.
authors.forename: Jake M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Najman
authors.affiliation: School of Population Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. mamun@sph.uq.edu.au.
authors.forename: Abdullah A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Mamun
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D041923:Adolescent Development; D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002657:Child Development; D002664:Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011793:Queensland / Q000453:epidemiology; D012306:Risk; D055105:Waist Circumference; D015430:Weight Gain; D055815:Young Adult
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