[Increased height in obese schoolchildren versus healthy weight schoolchildren]

There are few articles that document the association between growth and obesity. The objective of this study was to compare height between obese schoolchildren and healthy weight schoolchildren.

Cross-sectional study performed in 369 healthy weight schoolchildren and 162 obese schoolchildren of an elementary school; 49.4 % were females. Subjects were classified by body mass index percentiles in healthy weight (5-84), and obese (> 95), and grouped by gender and one-year class intervals. It was used Mann-Whitney U test for statistical analysis.

In all class intervals, height was higher in obese schoolgirls when we compared them with healthy weight schoolgirls; we did not identify an increasing or decreasing trend related to age. No height difference was observed in 6 and 7 years old obese/healthy weight schoolboys; however, from 8 to 11 years, height increased progressively in obese schoolchildren with a difference of 8.8 cm at the age of 10.

The association of obesity with periods of accelerated growth suggests the existence of phenotypic variants related to metabolic and hormonal factors. Significant higher height values were identified in obese schoolchildren when they were compared with their healthy weight peers.