gms | German Medical Science

MAINZ//2011: 56. GMDS-Jahrestagung und 6. DGEpi-Jahrestagung

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie e. V.
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Epidemiologie e. V.

26. - 29.09.2011 in Mainz

Anthropometric patterns in early life and mid-childhood and their prospective association with body composition in young adulthood

Meeting Abstract

  • Guo Cheng - Research Institute of Child Nutrition, Dortmund
  • Thomas Remer - Research Institute of Child Nutrition, Dortmund
  • Anke L B Günther - Fulda University of Applied Sciences, Fulda
  • Anja Kroke - Fulda University of Applied Sciences, Fulda
  • Anette E Buyken - Research Institute of Child Nutrition, Dortmund

Mainz//2011. 56. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie (gmds), 6. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Epidemiologie (DGEpi). Mainz, 26.-29.09.2011. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2011. Doc11gmds287

doi: 10.3205/11gmds287, urn:nbn:de:0183-11gmds2871

Published: September 20, 2011

© 2011 Cheng et al.
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Outline

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Objective: Anthropometric patterns during infancy and childhood have been suggested to exert long-term influences on body fatness in later life. We examined whether rapid weight gain (RWG) in early life or a younger age at adiposity rebound (AR) were associated with body composition in young adulthood.

Subjects and methods: Multivariable-adjusted linear regression analyses were performed in participants from the from the Dortmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed (DONALD), for whom anthropometric data (weight, height, skinfold measurements) from both childhood and young adulthood (18-25 years) were available. In a sample of 199 participants, fat mass index (FMI, kg/m2) and fat-free mass index (FFMI, kg/m2) were analyzed in relation to RWG (increase in weight SDS of >0.67 between birth and 24 months). Comparison of body composition between those reaching the nadir in the BMI curve (AR) at an early (<5years), middle (5-<7years) and late age (≥7years) was based on 309 participants.

Results: The FMI of young women who had gained weight rapidly in early life (n=24) was approximately 29% higher than that of women who had gained weight normally (n=77) (mean FMI (95% CI): 8.8 (7.6-10.0) versus 6.8 (5.9-7.6) kg/m2, p diff=0.002, adjusted for breastfeeding, appropriateness for gestational age, and maternal overweight). Additionally, FFMI was 6% higher (16.4 (15.6-17.1) versus 15.5 (15.0-16.0) kg/m2, p diff=0.03). Body composition in young men (n=98) was not related to RWG in early life (p diff≥0.7). Young women who had reached AR at an early age (n=35) had a 36% higher FMI and a 6% higher FFMI than those who had experienced AR at a later age (n=47) (FMI in early, middle and late AR category: 8.0 (7.1-8.8), 7.7 (7.2, 8.3) and 5.9 (5.2-6.6) kg/m2, pfor-trend<0.0001, adjusted for breastfeeding, maternal education and BMI-SDS at AR; FFMI: 16.2 (15.8-16.7), 16.0 (15.7-16.3) and 15.3 (14.9-15.7) kg/m2, p for-trend=0.001). Similarly, young men in the early AR category (n=22) had a 29% higher FMI (p for-trend=0.006) and a 4% higher FFMI (p for-trend=0.01) than those with a late AR (n=65). Further adjustment for RWG in early life in the sample with both data did not explain these associations.

Conclusion: Early life and the period of the AR appear to be two independent “critical windows” decisive for sustained adverse influences on body composition in young adulthood. The long-term relevance of RWG during early life and an early age at AR may be greater for girls.