Adipose tissue cellularity in adulthood and its relation to childhood obesity

A population sample totalling 1462 middle-aged women was studied in 1968-69. A re-study of the same women in 1974-75 comprised 1302 women. Body composition and adipose tissue cellularity were determined in a systematic subsample of 227 women and in a subsample of 76 obese women. There was a significant relation between body build in childhood (evaluated retrospectively as lean, normal or obese) and prevalence and degree of obesity in adulthood. There was a highly significant relation between the body weights in 1968-69 and 1974-75, while a low order negative correlation was found between body weight in 1968-69 and change in weight between 1968-69 and 1974-75. There was a significant relation between fat cell weight and weight index in the lower range and between fat cell number and weight index throughout the whole range studied. Body cell mass correlated with weight index and total fat cell number but not with fat cell weight. There was no significant correlation between body cell mass and obesity in childhood. There was a significant relation between degree of obesity and total fat cell number when age of onset was kept constant, but not between age of onset and total fat cell number when degree of obesity was kept constant. An association between childhood obesity and obesity in adulthood was shown. However, the concept of a critical period in childhood for changes in total fat cell number was not supported.