Early rapid weight gain, parental body mass index and the association with an increased waist-to-height ratio at 5 years of age

Annelie Lindholm; Gerd Almquist-Tangen; Bernt Alm; Ann Bremander; Jovanna Dahlgren; Josefine Roswall; Carin Staland-Nyman; Stefan Bergman

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0273442

Early rapid weight gain, parental body mass index and the association with an increased waist-to-height ratio at 5 years of age

PLoS One. 2022 Sep 7;17(9):e0273442. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0273442. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Annelie Lindholm^{1

2}, Gerd Almquist-Tangen^{3

4}, Bernt Alm³, Ann Bremander^{2

5}, Jovanna Dahlgren³, Josefine Roswall^{3

6}, Carin Staland-Nyman¹, Stefan Bergman^{2

7}

Affiliations

¹ School of Health and Welfare, Halmstad University, Halmstad, Sweden.
² Research and Development Center Spenshult, Halmstad, Sweden.
³ Department of Pediatrics, Institute of Clinical Sciences, The Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
⁴ Child Health Care Unit, Region Halland, Halmstad, Sweden.
⁵ Department of Regional Health Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
⁶ Department of Pediatrics, Halland Hospital, Halmstad, Sweden.
⁷ Primary Health Care Unit, Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Institute of Medicine, The Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.

Abstract

Background/objectives: Obesity-related adverse health consequences are closely associated with abdominal obesity. Risk factors for overweight and obesity have been studied but there is a lack of information regarding risk factors for abdominal obesity, especially in the preschool population. The aim of the present study was to examine early life risk factors for an increased waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) in children at five years of age and, in addition, to investigate if these risk factors also were associated with overweight or obesity.

Subjects/methods: The study population comprised 1,540 children from a population-based longitudinal birth cohort study that included 2,666 Swedish children. The children were included if they had complete growth data for the analyses used in this study. Children were classified as having WHtR standard deviation scores (SDS) ≥ 1 or < 1 at five years of age, according to Swedish reference values, and as having body mass index standard deviation scores (BMISDS) for overweight/obesity, or normal weight/underweight according to the International Obesity Task Force criteria. Associations between child-related, socioeconomic status-related, parental health-related and nutrition- and feeding practice-related factors during the first two years and a WHtRSDS ≥ 1 or a BMISDS for overweight/obesity at five years were investigated with logistic regression analyses.

Results: At five years of age, 15% of the children had WHtRSDS ≥ 1 and 11% had overweight or obesity. In multivariable analyses, rapid weight gain (RWG) during 0-6 months (OR: 1.90, 95% CI: 1.23-2.95, p = 0.004), maternal pre-pregnancy BMI (1.06, 1.01-1.11, p = 0.019) and paternal BMI (1.11, 1.01-1.21, p = 0.028) were associated with WHtRSDS ≥ 1. RWG during 0-6 months (2.53, 1.53-4.20, p<0.001), 6-12 months (2.82, 1.37-5.79, p = 0.005), and maternal pre-pregnancy BMI (1.11, 1.06-1.17, p<0.001) were associated with overweight or obesity.

Conclusions: Early risk factors, including rapid weight gain, are associated with increased WHtRSDS and overweight or obesity at 5 years of age. Preventive interventions should target early RWG and parental overweight and obesity.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Body Mass Index
Child, Preschool
Cohort Studies
Female
Humans
Obesity, Abdominal / complications
Overweight* / complications
Parents
Pediatric Obesity* / epidemiology
Pediatric Obesity* / etiology
Pregnancy
Weight Gain

Grants and funding

SB, Region Halland Research and Development Center Spenshult AL, Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Lovisa’s Association for Child Care/Axel Tielmans Memorial Fund and Halmstad University. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.