Table 1. Characteristics of studies examining the association between rapid weight gain during infancy and later adiposity outcomes1.
| Author, year | Study design | n | Country | RWG period | % RWG | Age at outcome assessment | Adiposity Outcomes | Statistical method | Covariates (child and maternal factors) | RWG associations | Quality |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karaolis-Danckert 2006 | Prospective cohort | 206 Healthy term children | Germany | Birth to 2y | 28.6% | 7y | Overweight/obesity (IOTF, 16.2%) Also: growth trajectories of BMIz and PBF from 2-7 y, skinfold, MUAC, arm fat area | Linear mixed regression model; logistic regression | Child: Sex, BMI at birth, gestational age, breastfeeding Maternal: weight status, education | Higher risk of overweight/obesity (AOR 6.2 95%CI 2.4, 16.5), Also: higher BMIz, PBF, skinfold, MUAC | Acceptable |
| Akaboshi 2008 | Retrospective cohort | 1353 Healthy term children | Japan | Birth to 3-4mo | 22.7% | 3y | Overweight/obesity (IOTF, 34.1%) | Multivariable logistic regression | Child: Birth weight, breastfeeding | Higher risk of overweight/obesity (boys: AOR 6.767 95%CI 2.180-21.007; girls: AOR 4.966 95%CI 2.388-10.327) | Acceptable |
| Hui 2008* | Prospective cohort | 6075 term children | Hong Kong | Birth to 3mo | Not reported | 7y | Overweight/obesity (IOTF, 15.3%) | Multivariable linear and logistic regression | Child: Sex, gestational age, birth weight; birth order, infant feeding Maternal: education, smoking | Higher risk of overweight/obesity with highest risk among those with rapid growth and high birth weight | High |
| Demerath 2009 | Prospective cohort | 233 AGA children | US | Birth to 2y | Not reported | 46.5 y | Overweight/obesity (% not reported) Also: WC, FM, FFM, PBF, VAT, ASAT | Multivariable general linear models | Child: Sex, gestational age, birth weight z-score, stature, birth year, birth order, breastfeeding, adulthood stature, adulthood education, smoking, physical activity Maternal: age at birth | Higher risk of overweight/obesity (AOR 5.54 95%CI 1.88, 16.31) Also: higher FM (+7kg), PBF (+5%), logVAT mass (+0.43 kg,), log ASAT mass (+0.47kg,), and % abdominal fat (+5%) | Acceptable |
| Goodell, 2009 | Retrospective cohort | 203 Children | US (low income, inner city minority population) | Birth to 4 mo and 1 y | 54.2% at 4mo, 39.9% at 1 y | 2-3 y | Obesity (≥95th percentile, 17.7%) | Multivariable logistic regression | Child: Sex, birth weight | RWG birth to 1 y: higher risk of obesity (AOR: 11.7, 95%CI 4.5-30.0). RWG birth to 4 mo: no significant association (OR 1.94 95%CI 0.89-4.21) | Acceptable |
| Heppe 2013 | Prospective cohort | 3610 children | Netherlands | Birth to 2 y | 20.1% | 4 y | Overweight/obesity (IOTF, 7.1% boys, 11.4% girls) | Multivariable logistic regression | Child: Sex, birth weight Maternal: education, house income, pre-pregnancy BMI, gestational weight gain, smoking, fruit/vegetable intake, fat intake | Higher risk of overweight/obesity (AOR 6.39 95%CI 4.54-8.99) | High |
| Fujita 2013 | Retrospective cohort | 1624 Adolescents | Japan | Birth to 1.5 y | 32.0% | 13-14 y | Overweight/obesity (IOTF, 7.8%) | Multivariable logistic regression | Child: Sex, birth weight Maternal: BMI | Higher risk of overweight/obesity (AOR 2.57 95%CI 1.74-4.68). | Acceptable |
| Odegaard 2013 | Prospective cohort | 422 AGA children | US | Birth to: 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 18 and 24 mo | Not reported | 20-29 y | Overweight/obesity (≥85th percentile, 23.9%) | Multivariable logistic regression | Child: Sex, birth year, birth weight, age at outcome Maternal: gestational age at birth, age and BMI | RWG: birth to 24mo, no other periods, was associated with higher risk of overweight/obesity (AOR 2.04, 95%CI: 1.11-3.74) | Acceptable |
| Rathnayake 2013 | Case control | 142 preschool aged children born term | Sri Lanka | Birth to 2 y | Not reported | 3-5 y (4.2 y) | Overweight/obesity (WHO, 7.4%) | Multivariable logistic regression | Child: birth weight, mode of delivery, parity, breastfeeding, Maternal: education, age during delivery, working status, presence of GDM, past history of abortion, pre-pregnancy obesity, child rearing pattern, disease history | Higher risk of overweight/obesity (AOR=6.29, 95%CI 2.04-19.49) | Acceptable |
| Taal 2013 | Prospective cohort | 3941 | Netherlands | Birth to 2 y | 19.9% | 4 y | Overweight/obesity (WHO, 48.5% in LGA), Also: BMI | Multivariable linear and logistic regression | Child: Sex, age, height Maternal: age, height, pre-pregnancy weight, parity, education, smoking during pregnancy | Compare to AGA normal growth, AGA rapid growth was associated higher overweight/obesity risk (AOR 3.11 95% CI 2.37-4.08) | High |
| Webster 2013** | Prospective cohort | 157 children | Australia | Birth to 12 mo | 34.4% | 2 y | Overweight/obesity (BMI ≥85th percentile, 36.9%) | Pearson chi-square test | None | Higher risk of overweight/obesity (OR=5.22, 95%CI 2.33-11.71) | Low |
| Weng 2013 | Prospective cohort | 18296 Healthy term children | UK | Birth to 1 y | Not reported | 3 y | Overweight (IOTF, 36.9%) | Multivariable logistic regression | Child: Sex, birth weight, breastfeeding Maternal BMI, smoking, | Higher risk of overweight/obesity (AOR=4.15, 95%CI 3.64-4.73) | Acceptable |
| Goncalves 2014** | Prospective cohort | 167 term children (67 LBW, 100 HBW) | Brazil | Birth to 6 mo | 41.9% | 8 y | BMI, WC | Multivariable linear regression | Child: Sex, birth weight, breastfeeding Maternal: BMI, SES, height | Higher risk of overweight (AOR=3.02, 95%CI 1.71-5.38) Also: higher BMI (1.4 kg/m2 95%CI 0.7, 2.2) and WC (4 cm 95%CI 2.1, 5.9) | Acceptable |
| Salgin 2015* | Prospective cohort | 2352 Singleton children | South Africa | Birth to 1 y | 12.3% | 8y and 18 y | BMI z, MUAC, skinfold at 8y and BMI z, FM, % FM, FFM at 18y | ANOVA to assess differences across slow, normal, rapid weight gain | Child: Sex, age, birth order Maternal: smoking during pregnancy, gestational age, formula feeding and SES | RWG was associated with greater mid-upper arm circumference and skinfold at 8 y; and higher weight and BMIz at 18 y (p<0.05) | Low |
| Sutharsan 2015 | Prospective cohort | 1768 term children | Australia | Birth to 6 mo | 22.0% | 21 y | Overweight/obesity (WHO, 33.6%) Also: WC, and WHR categories | Multivariable logistic regression | Child: Sex, breastfeeding, parity, fast food intake, TV viewing, physical activity, Maternal: education, age, gestation, pre-pregnancy BMI, smoking and race | No significant association with overweight/obesity risk (AOR=1.13 95%CI 0.86-1.49); WC (AOR 1.24 95%CI 0.92-1.67); WHR (AOR 0.97 95%CI 0.71, 1.32) | Acceptable |
| Nanri 2016 | Retrospective cohort | 1296 Adolescents | Japan | Birth to 1.5y | 40.5% | 9-10 y | Overweight/obesity (IOTF, 11.8% boys, 9.0% girls) | Multivariable logistic regression | Child: Age, birth weight | No significant association was found between RWG from 0-1.5y and overweight (girl AOR 2.60 95%CI 0.96, 7.04; boy AOR 1.67 95%CI 0.83, 3.33) | Acceptable |
| Zhou 2016 | Prospective cohort | 581 Children | China | Birth to 1.5 y | 31.2% | 7-9 y | Overweight/obesity (WHO, 5.7%) Also: BMIz, MUAC, PBF, FMI | Multilevel mixed analysis | Child: Sex, age, birth weight, gestational age, parity, infant feeding, Maternal: SES, education, occupation;, height and BMI, malnutrition, nutrient supplementation, activity level and medical history | Higher risk of overweight/obesity (AOR 2.94 95%CI 1.17-7.43), Also: higher BMIz (AOR 0.69 95%CI 0.49-0.89), MUAC(AOR 1.01, 95%CI 0.71-1.32), PBF(AOR 2.90 95%CI 1.88-3.93), FMI (β=0.58 95%CI 0.37-0.80) | High |
1
RWG: rapid weight gain, AOR: adjusted odds ratio, CI: confidence interval, BMI: body mass index, MUAC: mid upper arm circumference, IOTF: international obesity task force, WC: waist circumference, FM: fat mass, FFM: fat free mass, PBF: percentage body fat, VAT: visceral adipose tissue, ASAT: abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue, SD: standard deviation, SES: socioeconomic status, CDC: Centre for Diseases Control, LGA: large for gestational age, WHO: world health organisation, WHR: waist-to-hip ratio, ANOVA: analysis of variance, TV: Television, FMI: fat mass index
*
Insufficient information to convert reported estimates to odds ratio for overweight
**
Conversions were made from reported estimates to odds ratio for overweight, Webster et al was not adjusted OR as this was simply estimated from the 2x2 table of number overweight and not overweight by RWG