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The association between antibiotic use in infancy and overweight during childhood and adolescence: a historical

Eilon Heyman1, Gabriel Chodick2, Noga Fallach3

  • 1School of Public Health, Gray Faculty of Medical & Health Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel.

International Journal of Obesity (2005)
|November 29, 2025
PubMed

Insights

Infant exposure to narrow-spectrum antibiotics is linked to higher body mass index (BMI) and increased childhood obesity risk. This association highlights potential long-term health implications of early antibiotic use.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Health
  • Microbiome Research
  • Epidemiology

Background:

  • Childhood obesity is a growing concern, with increasing scientific interest in the microbiome's role.
  • Large-scale, real-world data on infant antibiotic exposure and long-term obesity outcomes are limited.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between antibiotic exposure in infancy and the development of overweight and obesity.
  • To analyze the impact of narrow-spectrum versus broad-spectrum antibiotics on long-term weight status.

Main Methods:

  • A historical cohort study was conducted using data from Maccabi Healthcare Services (MHS) in Israel.
  • 76,840 infants born between 1998-2002 were analyzed, comparing those exposed to antibiotics before age 2 with unexposed infants.
  • Body mass index (BMI) percentiles were tracked through childhood and adolescence.

Main Results:

  • Antibiotic-exposed infants showed significantly higher mean BMI percentiles across all age groups compared to unexposed infants (p < 0.001).
  • The risk of overweight and obesity increased with the number of narrow-spectrum antibiotic packs, with an odds ratio of 1.52 for 10+ packs (p < 0.001).
  • No significant association was found between broad-spectrum antibiotic exposure and overweight/obesity.

Conclusions:

  • Infant exposure to narrow-spectrum antibiotics is associated with elevated BMI and increased odds of overweight and obesity.
  • These findings underscore the importance of judicious antibiotic use in early life.
  • Further research may explore microbiome-mediated mechanisms linking early antibiotic exposure to obesity.
Abstract

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