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Body composition, energy expenditure and physical activity

Longitudinal associations between body composition and regional fat distribution and later attained height at school entry among preschool children predisposed to overweight

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 74, pages 465–471 (2020)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objectives

To investigate the associations between indicators of obesity and fat distribution, such as body mass index (BMI), fat mass, and skinfold measures during preschool age, and attained height at school entry.

Subjects/Methods

The Healthy Start primary intervention study comprised 1100 obesity-prone preschool children from the greater Copenhagen area, with a mean [standard deviation (SD)] age of 4.0 (1.1) years at baseline. Anthropometry was measured by trained health professionals at baseline (preschool age) and follow-up height at school entry was gathered by school nurses. Prospective associations between body fat measures and later attained height were examined using generalized linear models with adjustments for potential confounders.

Results

Greater adiposity at preschool age was directly associated with a higher attained height at follow-up at school-age, when adjusting for confounders. A baseline difference of one BMI unit was associated with a greater attained height of 0.8 cm [(95% confidence interval (CI) 0.5; 1.2]. Furthermore, a difference of 1 mm in the sum of four skinfolds measured at baseline was associated with a greater attained height of 0.1 cm (95% CI 0.03; 0.2) at follow-up. Children with overweight or obesity at baseline attained a significantly higher height of 2.9 (95% CI 1.6; 4.1) cm at follow-up after full adjustment than normal weight children.

Conclusions

Our results supports that greater adiposity at preschool age is associated with greater tallness. Although a greater height is assumed to be desirable, accelerated growth in childhood may in itself be a risk factor for obesity later in life.

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Funding

The Healthy Start Study was supported by grants from the Tryg Fonden (grant: 7984-07, 7106-09, and 7-10-0330), The Danish Medical Research Council (grant: 271-07-0281) and the Helsefonden (grant: 2008B101). The Parker Institute, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital is supported by a core grant from the Oak Foundation (OCAY-13-309).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Nursing, University of Minho, Minho, Portugal

    Rafaela Rosário

  2. Health Sciences Research Unit: Nursing (UICISA: E), Nursing School of Coimbra (ESEnfC), Coimbra, Portugal

    Rafaela Rosário

  3. Research Unit for Dietary Studies, The Parker Institute, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital, The Capital Region, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Nanna Julie Olsen, Jeanett Friis Rohde, Mina Nicole Händel & Berit Lilienthal Heitmann

  4. Research Centre in Physical Activity, Health and Leisure, Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Rute Santos

  5. Early Start and Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia

    Rute Santos

  6. The Boden Institute of Obesity, Nutrition, Exercise & Eating Disorders, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

    Berit Lilienthal Heitmann

  7. Department of Public Health, Section for General Practice, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Berit Lilienthal Heitmann

Authors
  1. Rafaela Rosário
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  2. Nanna Julie Olsen
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  4. Mina Nicole Händel
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  5. Rute Santos
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  6. Berit Lilienthal Heitmann
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Contributions

RR carried out the initial analyses, drafted the initial manuscript, and reviewed and revised the manuscript. NJO is the project coordinator of the “Healthy Start” and critically reviewed the manuscript. She also conceived the study, was responsible for its design and coordination, and helped to draft the manuscript. JFR helped to draft the manuscript. MNH participated in the data collection and helped to draft the manuscript. RS helped to draft the manuscript. JFR, MNH and RS reviewed and revised the manuscript. BLH conceived the study, was responsible for its design and coordination and helped to draft the manuscript. She also conceptualized the study, supervised data collection, reviewed and revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rafaela Rosário.

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Rosário, R., Olsen, N.J., Rohde, J.F. et al. Longitudinal associations between body composition and regional fat distribution and later attained height at school entry among preschool children predisposed to overweight. Eur J Clin Nutr 74, 465–471 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-019-0494-x

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