Study: Child's BMI Predicts Obesity as an Adult

A child's body mass index (BMI) predicts whether the child will be overweight or obese as an adult, according to U.S. researchers.

Recently, BMI-for-age growth charts used by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were revised for young males and females ages 2 to 20, due to concern about the high prevalence of overweight and obesity among children in the United States.

Researchers used the new guidelines for children and adolescents to estimate the probability of future overweight or obesity, based on BMI values from infancy to age 20. They found that the higher the childhood or adolescent BMI and the older the child, the greater the risk of being overweight or obese as an adult.

Weight and stature from ages three to 20 and again from ages 30 to 39 were measured in 166 white males and 31 white females who were enrolled in the study shortly following birth. A BMI value for age 35 was taken as an average of the person's weight between ages 30 and 39.

Overall, the probability of adult overweight increased with higher childhood and adolescent BMI values and with the child's age, according to the study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

In the higher ranges of BMI-for-age, young males had a higher likelihood of being overweight as adults than young females. The relationships between rising age, BMI values, and predicted probability of adult obesity stresses that adolescence is a critical period in establishing lifetime weight management, wrote the researchers.

The study recommends that this predictive information be used in clinical and public health settings to evaluate and monitor children and teens in the 85th or greater percentile of BMI for their age group.

Other sources: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition