Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Paper
  • Published:

Size at birth, childhood growth and obesity in adult life

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Several studies have shown tracking of obesity from childhood to adult life. People who develop obesity in adult life may therefore have had a particular path of growth from birth through childhood.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship of obesity to size at birth and childhood growth.

DESIGN: Birth cohort study.

PARTICIPANTS: A total of 5210 individuals alive and living in Finland in 1997, who were born at the Helsinki University Central Hospital between 1924 and 1933 and who went to school in Helsinki were sent a questionnaire in order to get information about adult weight and height. Detailed birth and school health records were available for all subjects. In all, 3847 responded and 3659 (1552 men and 2107 women) with adequate data are included in the present study.

MEASUREMENTS: Incidence of obesity based upon lifetime maximum body mass index (BMI) ascertained from a postal questionnaire and defined as a BMI>30 kg/m2. The main explanatory measurements were size at birth and childhood growth in height, weight and BMI.

RESULTS: The cumulative incidence of obesity was 34.2% in men and 33.9% in women. The incidence rose with increasing birth weight and ponderal index (birthweight/length3; P=0.01 and P=0.04, respectively). These associations were statistically significant only among males. By the age of 7 y the mean weights, heights and BMI of people who later became obese exceeded the average and remained above average at all ages from 7 to 15 y. In both men and women there was a 3-fold increase in obesity associated with a BMI>16 kg/m2 at age 7 compared with a BMI<14.5 kg/m2 (P<0.0001). Boys and girls whose mothers had a high BMI in pregnancy had more rapid childhood growth and an increased risk of becoming obese. This effect was stronger among boys (P=0.008).

CONCLUSIONS: Obesity is initiated early in life. These results emphasise the importance of early preventive measures for its treatment.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Purchase on Springer Link

Instant access to full article PDF

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Prentice AM, Jebb SA . Obesity in Britain: gluttony or sloth? Br Med J 1995 311: 437–439.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Heini AF, Weinsier RL . Divergent trends in obesity and fat intake patterns: the American paradox Am J Med 1997 192: 259–264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Rosenbaum M, Leibel RL, Hirsch J . Obesity New Engl J Med 1997 337: 396–407.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Grundy SM . Multifactorial causation of obesity: implications for prevention Am J Clin Nutr 1998 67 (Suppl): S563–S572.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Serdula MK, Ivery D, Coates RJ, Freedman DS, Williamsson DF, Byers T . Do obese children become obese adults. A review of the literature Prev Med 1993 22: 167–177.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Power C, Lake JK, Cole TJ . Measurement and long-term health risks of child and adolescent fatness Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1997 21: 507–526.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Dietz WH . Critical periods in childhood for the development of obesity Am J Clin Nutr 1994 59: 955–959.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Allison DB, Paultre F, Heymsfield SB, Pi Sunyer FX . Is the intra-uterine period really a critical period for the development of adiposity Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1995 19: 397–402.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Curhan GC, Chertow GM, Willett WC, Spiegelman D, Colditz GA, Manson JE, Speizer FE, Stamfer MJ . Birth weight and adult hypertension and obesity in women Circulation 1996 94: 1310–1315.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Sorensen HT, Sabroe S, Rothman KJ, Gillman M, Fischer P, Sorensen TI . Relation between weight and length at birth and body mass index in young adulthood: cohort study Br Med J 1997 315: 1137.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Rasmussen F, Johansson M . The relation of weight, length and ponderal index at birth to body mass index and overweight among 18-year-old-males in Sweden Eur J Epidemiol 1998 14: 373–380.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Forsén T, Eriksson JG, Tuomilehto J, Teramo K, Osmond C, Barker DJ . Mother's weight in pregnancy and coronary heart disease in a cohort of Finnish men: follow up study Br Med J 1997 315: 837–840.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Eriksson JG, Forsen T, Tuomilehto J, Winter PD, Osmond C, Barker DJ . Catch-up growth in childhood and death from coronary heart disease: longitudinal study Br Med J 1999 318: 427–431.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Forsen T, Eriksson JG, Tuomilehto J, Osmond C, Barker DJ . Growth in utero and during childhood among women who develop coronary heart disease: longitudinal study Br Med J 1999 319: 1403–1407.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Royston P . Constructing time-specific reference ranges Stat Med 1991 10: 675–690.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. WHO . Obesity. Preventing and managing the global epidemic Report of the WHO Consultation on Obesity, 3–5 June. WHO: Geneva 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Kahn HS, Narayan KMV, Williamson DF, Valdez R . Relation of birthweight to lean and fat thigh tissue in young men Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 2000 24: 667–672.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Lahti-Koski M, Pietinen P, Männistö S, Vartiainen E . Body mass index and prevalence of obesity among adults in Finland from 1982 to 1997 National Public Health Institute: Helsinki 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Seidell JC, Rissanen AM . Time trends in the world wide prevalence of obesity. In: Bray GA, Bouchard C, James P (eds). Handbook of obesity Marcel Dekker: New York 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Parsons TJ, Power C, Logan S, Summerbell CD . Childhood predictors of adult obesity: a systematic review Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1999 23 (Suppl 8): S1–S107.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Teasdale TW, Sorensen TI, Stunkard AJ . Genetic and early environmental components in sociodemographic influences on adult body fatness Br Med J 1990 300: 1615–1618.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Guillaume M, Lapidus L, Beckers F, Lambert A, Bjorntorp P . Familial trends of obesity through three generations the Belgian-Luxembourg child study Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1995 19 (Suppl 3): S5–9.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Hakala P, Rissanen A, Koskenvuo M, Kaprio J, Rönnemaa T . Environmental factors in the development of obesity in identical twins Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1999 23: 746–753.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Curhan GC, Willett WC, Rimm EB, Spiegelman D, Ascherio, AL, Stampfer MJ . Birth weight and adult hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and obesity in US men Circulation 1996 94: 3246–3250.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Barker M, Robinson S, Osmond C, Barker DJ . Birth weight and body fat distribution in adolescent girls Arch Dis Child 1997 77: 381–383.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Ravelli GP, Belmont L . Obesity in nineteen-year-old men: family size and birth order associations Am J Epidemiol 1979 109: 66–70.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Stunkard AJ, Harris JR, Pedersen NL, McClearn GE . The body-mass index of twins who have been reared apart New Engl J Med 1990 322: 1483–1487.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Vogler GP, Sorensen TIA, Stunkard AJ, Srinivasan MR, Rao DC . Influences of genes and shared family environment on adult body mass index assessed in an adoption study by comprehensive path model Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1995 19: 40–45.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Allison DB, Kaprio J, Korkeila M, Koskenvuo M, Neale M, Hayakawa K . The heritability of body mass index among an international sample of monozygotic twins reared apart Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1996 20: 501–506.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Terttu Nopanen, Tiina Saarinen, Hillevi Öfverström-Anttila, Hanna Pehkonen and Liisa Toivanen for abstracting data from the records. Sigrid Rosten was responsible for data management. The study was funded by British Heart Foundation, Finska Läkaresällskapet and Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to J Eriksson.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Eriksson, J., Forsén, T., Tuomilehto, J. et al. Size at birth, childhood growth and obesity in adult life. Int J Obes 25, 735–740 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0801602

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0801602

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links