Simulation of Growth Trajectories of Childhood Obesity into Adulthood
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Although the current obesity epidemic has been well documented in children and adults, less is known about long-term risks of adult obesity for a given child at his or her present age and weight. We developed a simulation model to estimate the risk of adult obesity at the age of 35 years for the current population of children in the United States. METHODS: We pooled height and weight data from five nationally representative longitudinal studies totaling 176,720 observations from 41,567 children and adults. We simulated growth trajectories across the life course and adjusted for secular trends. We created 1000 virtual populations of 1 million children through the age of 19 years that were representative of the 2016 population of the United States and projected their trajectories in height and weight up to the age of 35 years. Severe obesity was defined as a body-mass index (BMI, the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters) of 35 or higher in adults and 120% or more of the 95th percentile in children. RESULTS: Given the current level of childhood obesity, the models predicted that a majority of today's children (57.3%; 95% uncertainly interval [UI], 55.2 to 60.0) will be obese at the age of 35 years, and roughly half of the projected prevalence will occur during childhood. Our simulations indicated that the relative risk of adult obesity increased with age and BMI, from 1.17 (95% UI, 1.09 to 1.29) for overweight 2-year-olds to 3.10 (95% UI, 2.43 to 3.65) for 19-year-olds with severe obesity. For children with severe obesity, the chance they will no longer be obese at the age of 35 years fell from 21.0% (95% UI, 7.3 to 47.3) at the age of 2 years to 6.1% (95% UI, 2.1 to 9.9) at the age of 19 years. CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of our simulation models, childhood obesity and overweight will continue to be a major health problem in the United States. Early development of obesity predicted obesity in adulthood, especially for children who were severely obese. (Funded by the JPB Foundation and others.).
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The obesity disparities between black and Hispanic children and white peers persist into adulthood.
“these disparities persist into adulthood [6]”
From Reducing Racial Inequities in Health: Using What We Already Know to Take Action (2019) · cites this paper as [6]
Black and Hispanic children are more likely to be obese than their white peers at age 2.
“black and Hispanic children are more likely to be obese than their white peers at age 2”
From Reducing Racial Inequities in Health: Using What We Already Know to Take Action (2019) · cites this paper as [6]
Two-thirds of blacks and Hispanics currently aged 2 to 19 are projected to be obese by age 35, compared to the national average of 57%.
“two-thirds of blacks and Hispanics currently aged 2 to 19, are projected to be obese by the age 35, compared to the national average of 57% [6]”
From Reducing Racial Inequities in Health: Using What We Already Know to Take Action (2019) · cites this paper as [6]
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- Authors
- Ward, Z. J., Long, M. W., Resch, S. C., Giles, C. M., Cradock, A. L., & Gortmaker, S. L.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Ward, Zachary J.
- Venue
- New England Journal of Medicine
- Publisher
- Massachusetts Medical Society
- Published
- 2017-11-30
- Volume
- 377
- Issue
- 22
- Pages
- 2145-2153
- ISSN
- 0028-4793 (ISSN-L)
- 1533-4406
- PMC
- PMC9036858
- OpenAlex
- W2769692738
- Cited by
- 748
- References
- 41
- Citations by year
- 2026: 56 · 2025: 81 · 2024: 91 · 2023: 99 · 2022: 84 · 2021: 119 · 2020: 95 · 2019: 65 · 2018: 51 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 2 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 54.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- New England Journal of Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (U48 DP001946, U48 DP000064)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer Risks and Factors
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Obesity and Health Practices
- Keywords
- childhood obesity, adult obesity, growth trajectories, obesity prediction, severe childhood obesity, childhood overweight, body mass index, secular trends, life course, obesity prevalence projections
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Body Height, Body Weight, Child, Child, Preschool, Female, Growth, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Models, Theoretical, Obesity, Reference Values, Risk, United States, Body Mass Index, Prevalence, Young Adult, Pediatric Obesity
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