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Source: Medical Decision Making
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Goldhaber-Fiebert, Jeremy D.
Rubinfeld, Rachel E.
Bhattacharya, Jay
Robinson, Thomas N.
Wise, Paul H.
The Utility of Childhood and Adolescent Obesity Assessment in Relation to Adult Health
Medical Decision Making 33,2 (February 2013): 163-175.
Also: http://mdm.sagepub.com/content/33/2/163.abstract
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Sage Publications
Keyword(s): Body Mass Index (BMI); Child Health; Children, Health Care; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES); Obesity; Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID); Weight

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Background: High childhood obesity prevalence has raised concerns about future adult health, generating calls for obesity screening of young children.

Objective: To estimate how well childhood obesity predicts adult obesity and to forecast obesity-related health of future US adults.

Design: Longitudinal statistical analyses; microsimulations combining multiple data sets.

Data Sources: National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, Population Study of Income Dynamics, and National Health and Nutrition Evaluation Surveys. Methods: The authors estimated test characteristics and predictive values of childhood body mass index to identify 2-, 5-, 10-, and 15 year-olds who will become obese adults. The authors constructed models relating childhood body mass index to obesity-related diseases through middle age stratified by sex and race.

Results: Twelve percent of 18-year-olds were obese. While screening at age 5 would miss 50% of those who become obese adults, screening at age 15 would miss 9%. The predictive value of obesity screening below age 10 was low even when maternal obesity was included as a predictor. Obesity at age 5 was a substantially worse predictor of health in middle age than was obesity at age 15. For example, the relative risk of developing diabetes as adults for obese white male 15-year-olds was 4.5 versus otherwise similar nonobese 15-year-olds. For obese 5-year-olds, the relative risk was 1.6. Limitation: Main results do not include Hispanics due to sample size. Past relationships between childhood and adult obesity and health may change in the future.

Bibliography Citation
Goldhaber-Fiebert, Jeremy D., Rachel E. Rubinfeld, Jay Bhattacharya, Thomas N. Robinson and Paul H. Wise. "The Utility of Childhood and Adolescent Obesity Assessment in Relation to Adult Health." Medical Decision Making 33,2 (February 2013): 163-175.