title: Rapid infant weight gain and early childhood obesity in low-income Latinos and non-Latinos.
abstract: To examine the growth of infants and toddlers in a population that is both under-represented in the literature and at high risk for childhood obesity.
  
  
  
  Weight and height measurements were extracted from all visits for a sample of 0-4-year-old, low-income, Latino and non-Latino patients of an urban, academic general paediatric practice. Early growth was characterized as change in weight-for-length Z-score (WLZ) from birth to 3 years. The outcome of interest was BMI Z-score (BMIZ) at age 3 years. Mixed-effects models and multivariate linear regression were used to analyse the association between infant growth and early childhood obesity.
  
  
  
  Baltimore, MD, USA.
  
  
  
  Latino (n 210) and non-Latino (n 253) children, born in 2003-2004.
  
  
  
  An increase in WLZ from birth to 2 years was observed for this cohort as well as a high incidence of overweight and obesity. WLZ at birth and change in WLZ from birth to 2 years were both significantly and positively associated with increases in BMIZ at 3 years of age. The effect of the change in WLZ was twofold higher than the effect of WLZ at birth.
  
  
  
  An increase in WLZ during the first 2 years of life increased the risk of early childhood obesity. Latino children had a higher incidence of early childhood obesity than non-Latino children in this low-income sample.
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Pediatrics,Johns Hopkins School of Medicine,Mason F. Lord Building,Center Tower,Suite 4200,5200 Eastern Avenue,Baltimore,MD 21224-2780,USA.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Polk
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Pediatrics,Johns Hopkins School of Medicine,Mason F. Lord Building,Center Tower,Suite 4200,5200 Eastern Avenue,Baltimore,MD 21224-2780,USA.
authors.forename: Rachel Johnson
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Thornton
authors.affiliation: 3Department of International Health,Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health,Baltimore,MD,USA.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Caulfield
authors.affiliation: 4Department of Epidemiology,Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health,Baltimore,MD,USA.
authors.forename: Alvaro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Muñoz
mesh_terms: D015142:Baltimore / Q000453:epidemiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology*; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000208:ethnology*; D011203:Poverty; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015430:Weight Gain
keywords: BMI; Childhood obesity; Latino; Weight-for-length Z-score