Identifying Risk for Obesity in Early Childhood

Abstract

The data from this study indicate that children with BMIs > 85th percentile, as well as with BMIs in the high reference range are more likely than children whose BMI is < 50th percentile to continue to gain weight and reach overweight status by adolescence. Pediatricians can be confident in counseling parents to begin to address the at-risk child's eating and activity patterns rather than delaying in hopes that overweight and the patterns that support it will resolve themselves in due course. Identifying children at risk for adolescent obesity provides physicians with an opportunity for earlier intervention with the goal of limiting the progression of abnormal weight gain that results in the development of obesity-related morbidity.