Background: Weight gain is of concern during early development because adult obesity and its cardiovascular consequences appear to have their origins during childhood. Insulin resistance is known to be related to obesity. Thus, weight gain beginning in childhood may influence the development of insulin-induced cardiovascular risk during adulthood.
Methods and results: We monitored 679 individuals from 7.7+/-0.1 years of age with repeated measures of height, weight, and systolic blood pressure (SBP) until 23.6+/-0.2 years of age, when blood samples were obtained for measurements of insulin and lipids. Initial childhood weight, body mass index (BMI), and height were significantly correlated with young adult weight, BMI, and height and with fasting insulin, lipids, and SBP. The increases in weight and BMI but not height during childhood were significantly related to the young adult levels of insulin, lipids, and SBP.
Conclusions: These data suggest that weight gain in excess of normal growth during childhood is a determinant of adult cardiovascular risk. The finding in multiple linear regression analysis that weight gain during childhood rather than the childhood weight at 7.7 years of age is significantly related to young adult risk factors suggests that a reduction in weight gain could reduce subsequent levels of cardiovascular risk.