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Updated: Jun 4, 2026
Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
Published on: February 2, 2017
Prenatal and postnatal programming of body composition in obese children and adolescents: evidence from
J C K Wells1, D Haroun, D Levene
1Childhood Nutrition Research Centre, UCL Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, London, UK. J.Wells@ich.ucl.ac.uk
Insights
Postnatal weight gain significantly impacts body composition and fat distribution in obese children, more so than birth weight. Higher postnatal weight gain is linked to increased central adiposity.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Endocrinology
- Obesity Research
- Human Physiology
Background:
- Low birth weight is theorized to program childhood central adiposity.
- Limited data exists on fetal weight gain's impact on fat distribution in obese individuals.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine links between birth weight and postnatal weight gain with body composition in obese children and adolescents.
- Investigate how early growth influences adiposity in pediatric obesity.
Main Methods:
- Assessed body composition using anthropometry and dual-emission X-ray absorptiometry in 121 obese youth (5-22 years).
- Employed general linear models to analyze associations between birth weight standard deviation score (SDS) and weight gain SDS with body composition, controlling for covariates.
Main Results:
- Birth weight SDS showed an inverse association with current weight SDS.
- Birth weight SDS had weak associations with waist/hip girths and no significant link to trunk fat.
- Change in weight SDS strongly correlated with total and central adiposity.
Conclusions:
- Birth weight is a weak predictor of body composition and fat distribution in obese children.
- Postnatal weight gain magnitude is a stronger determinant of central adiposity.
- In obese youth, postnatal weight gain is the primary driver of adiposity and fat distribution.
Background:
Low-birth weight has been proposed to programme central adiposity in childhood. However, there is little information on associations between fetal weight gain and fat distribution within obese individuals.
Objectives:
To investigate associations between birth weight and postnatal weight gain with body composition in a sample of obese children and adolescents.
Subjects And Methods:
Body composition was measured using anthropometry, dual-emission X-ray absorptiometry and the 4-component model in 45 male and 76 female obese individuals aged 5-22 years. General linear models were used to investigate associations between birth weight standard deviation score (SDS), or change in weight SDS between birth and follow-up, and body composition, adjusting for age, pubertal status, height and gender.
Results:
Birth weight SDS ranged from -1.86 to 3.46, and was inversely associated with current weight SDS after adjustment for height SDS. Birth weight SDS was weakly associated with waist and hip girths, but not waist-hip ratio or trunk fat, after adjusting for age, height, pubertal status and gender. Change in weight SDS was strongly associated with total and central adiposity.
Conclusions:
Despite incorporating substantial variability, birth weight SDS was only a weak predictor of tissue masses and their distribution in obese children. Variability in central adiposity was more strongly associated with the magnitude of postnatal growth, which in turn was weakly inversely associated with birth weight SDS. In a population uniformly characterised by excess body weight, postnatal weight gain exerted the dominant impact on adiposity and fat distribution.
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