婴儿的体重指数可以预测儿童肥胖

在婴儿期身体质量指数（体重指数）可能有助于预测一个孩子4岁时是否会肥胖。在一个与大多数非洲裔儿童的儿童体重指数儿童肥胖关系的研究中，研究人员从费城儿童医院（砍）说，一个更好地了解婴儿的生长模式，可能会导致更有效的早期预防肥胖的努力。

预测肥胖，制定更好的预防策略

夏娜麦克马克 “鉴于肥胖相关的医疗问题，公共卫生的重要性，我们研究的是BMI在婴儿可以作为一种工具来确定孩子未来肥胖的风险增加，为了更好的预防策略，”该研究的领导者沙娜E。麦克马克，医学博士，儿科内分泌学家在砍。“我们也分析了在生长模式的差异，发现在9个月的年龄是明显的差异，最终关系到儿童肥胖的风险。”

麦克马克，第一作者撒尼·罗伊，MD，在砍儿科内分泌学研究员和他的同事们将他们的研究发表在1月30日在线临床内分泌与代谢杂志。

用体重指数法预测肥胖

As a measure that includes both weight and height, BMI is an approximation of body fat content。 BMI increases after birth, reaching its peak in infancy, usually between 8 and 9 months of age。 The current study analyzed the electronic health records of 2,114 healthy Philadelphia-area infants, as part of a larger study conducted by CHOP’s Center for Applied Genomics。 Sixty-one percent of the children in the study cohort were African-American, a population that, according to national estimates, has high rates of obesity and diabetes in adulthood。 Investigators hope that more reliable, early identification of all infants at increased risk for obesity will offer a unique opportunity to develop and implement targeted interventions。

The research team identified significantly different growth trajectories between African-American infants and white infants。 Peak infant BMI occurred around 12 days earlier in African-American children, and was about 3 percent higher in magnitude than others in the study, who were primarily of European ancestry。 Overall, African-American infants appeared to have more than twice the risk of obesity at age 4 compared to infants of primarily European ancestry。

考虑的其他因素

However, the study team performed statistical analyses to distinguish the effects of ancestry and infancy BMI, while also accounting for other factors such as birth weight and socioeconomic status。 Their conclusion was that infancy BMI played a more important role than ancestry in determining the risk of childhood obesity。 In addition, socioeconomic factors, inferred from geographic and insurance data, played a role in infancy BMI。 Higher rates of poverty, for instance, were associated with higher and earlier peak BMI。

撒尼罗伊 Roy added that the current study provides rich longitudinal data, including drawing on the many measurements that are made routinely during infancy and early childhood at well-child check-ups。 It is one of the largest studies to date using longitudinal data in such a diverse population。

The actual causes of these differences in infancy BMI and risk of childhood obesity in African-Americans remain subjects for further research。 One co-author, Babette S。 Zemel, PhD, the director of the Nutrition and Growth Laboratory at CHOP, is leading a prospective study of African-American infants and families, investigating factors such as hormone levels, variations in intestinal bacteria, and feeding practices such as breastfeeding and formula feeding on growth and excess weight gain。

2岁以下儿童的推荐挑战

In children under age 2, there is currently no consensus definition of obesity, said McCormack, who added, “In the absence of an accepted, valid definition of obesity in infancy, we struggle both as researchers and clinicians with how to best individualize recommendations for infants to prevent childhood obesity。 Our findings suggest that infant BMI pattern could be one additional tool。 In addition, infant BMI may be an early metric to use in evaluating the impact of public policy interventions。”

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