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Updated: May 12, 2026
09:36
Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
Published on: February 2, 2017
Factors predicting overweight in US kindergartners.
1Division of General Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA. glenn.flores@utsouthwestern.edu
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
|April 5, 2013
Summary
Identifying early childhood overweight predictors is crucial. Combinations of factors like maternal health, birth weight, and early development can predict kindergarten overweight risk.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Public Health
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Childhood overweight is a significant public health concern.
- Predictors of early childhood overweight remain largely unknown.
- Understanding these predictors is vital for intervention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify individual and combined factors predicting kindergarten overweight.
- To analyze parental, prenatal, infant, and toddler factors.
- To develop predictive models for high and low-risk groups.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of nationally representative data from a longitudinal cohort study (6800 children).
- Utilized multivariable logistic regression and recursive partitioning analysis (RPA).
- Identified predictors from over 131 factors related to child development and maternal history.
Main Results:
- Kindergarten overweight prevalence was 32%.
- RPA identified 6 high-risk (56-100% overweight) and 2 low-risk (11-15% overweight) groups.
- Key predictors included earlier BMI percentile, maternal gestational diabetes, birth weight, and developmental milestones.
Conclusions:
- Clusters of factors effectively predict kindergarten overweight risk.
- Identified specific high-risk groups, such as children with preschool BMI ≥85th percentile.
- Findings can inform targeted public health interventions for childhood obesity prevention.
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