Background The worldwide epidemic of childhood obesity is progressingat an alarming rate. Risk factors for coronary heart disease(CHD) are already identifiable in overweight children. The severityof the long-term effects of excess childhood weight on CHD,however, remains unknown.
Methods We investigated the association between body-mass index(BMI) in childhood (7 through 13 years of age) and CHD in adulthood(25 years of age or older), with and without adjustment forbirth weight. The subjects were a cohort of 276,835 Danish schoolchildrenfor whom measurements of height and weight were available. CHDevents were ascertained by linkage to national registers. Coxregression analyses were performed.
Results In 5,063,622 person-years of follow-up, 10,235 men and4318 women for whom childhood BMI data were available receiveda diagnosis of CHD or died of CHD as adults. The risk of anyCHD event, a nonfatal event, and a fatal event among adultswas positively associated with BMI at 7 to 13 years of age forboys and 10 to 13 years of age for girls. The associations werelinear for each age, and the risk increased across the entireBMI distribution. Furthermore, the risk increased as the ageof the child increased. Adjustment for birth weight strengthenedthe results.
Conclusions Higher BMI during childhood is associated with anincreased risk of CHD in adulthood. The associations are strongerin boys than in girls and increase with the age of the childin both sexes. Our findings suggest that as children are becomingheavier worldwide, greater numbers of them are at risk of havingCHD in adulthood.
Source Information
From the Institute of Preventive Medicine, Center for Health and Society, Copenhagen.
Address reprint requests to Dr. Baker at the Institute of Preventive Medicine, Center for Health and Society, Øster Søgade 18, 1st Fl., Copenhagen DK-1357, Denmark, or at jba{at}ipm.regionh.dk.
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