An overweight cohort in childhood does not necessarily continue to be overweight in young adulthood
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Retrospective repeated cross sectional annual nationwide surveys were carried out from 1948 to 2005 in order to compare growth curves of body mass index (BMI) from children to adolescents, and then to young adults, in Japanese girls and women in birth cohorts born from 1930 to 1999. A total of 76,635 females from 1 to 25 years of age were included in the analysis. Among these Japanese females, BMI decreased in preschool children, increased in children and in adolescents, and slightly decreased in young adults. Curves, however, differed among birth cohorts, with more recent cohorts being more overweight as children but thinner as young women. The BMI increments in early childhood were larger in more recent cohorts compared with older cohorts. However, BMI increments in adolescents were smaller and the decrease in BMI observed in young adults started earlier, with lower peak values in more recent cohorts compared with older cohorts. Based on these findings, the authors conclude that an overweight cohort in childhood does not necessarily continue to be overweight in young adulthood. This study provides with growth curves by birth cohorts over nearly six decades. Such curves for wide age ranges and by birth cohorts should be taken into account for the evaluation of obesity and thinness in later life.
Abstract
