Predicting childhood overweight status by accelerated weight gain from neonatal period to infancy

The increased prevalence of obesity in early childhood is a public health problem. Childhood obesity may affect cardiorespiratory fitness and can induce obesity and its comorbidities in adulthood. We aimed to assess childhood overweight status by accelerated weight gain during infancy.

This is a historical cohort that was conducted on 637 7‑year‑old students of Guilan province, north of Iran. Data were collected, including demographic characteristics, weight at 4, 6, 12, and 18 months, and clinical examination. The ROC curve was designated based on the standardized z‑scores, and the most appropriate cutoff point by sensitivity and specificity was noted for predicting obesity at 7 years. Rapid weight gain (RWG) was also assessed.

Among participants, 334 (53.3%) were female. In this study, the mean and standard deviation of RWG in 0–4 months, 0–6 months, 0–12 months, and 0–18 months were 3.50 ± 0.89, 4.64 ± 1.02, 6.54 ± 1.21, and 8.00 ± 1.46 kg, respectively. The highest AUC was dedicated to 0–18 months (0.7 ± 0.05) and the suitable cut-off for RWG in this interval was 8.55 kg with 65.5% and 72.0% sensitivity and specificity, respectively.

Although in the previous investigations, the changes in the first 3 years of life had a significant role in further complications, regarding our results, it seems that even earlier consideration of excess weight gain may be necessary.