Abstract
BackgroundThis paper aims to explore change in BMI z-score through childhood and the association between parent BMI and child BMI z-score. This is important to understand for the development of effective obesity interventions.MethodsData from the longitudinal B-ProAct1v study (1837 participants) were analysed. A paired sample t-test examined changes in child BMI z-score between Year 1 and 4. Multivariable linear regression models examined the cross-sectional associations between child BMI z-score and parent BMI in Year 1 and 4. The influence of change in parental BMI between Year 1 and Year 4 on child BMI z-score in Year 4 was explored through regression analyses, adjusted for baseline BMI z-score.ResultsThere was a strong association between child BMI z-score at Year 1 and 4. Child mean BMI z-score score increased from 0.198 to 0.330 (p = < 0.005) between these timepoints. For every unit increase in parent BMI, there was an increase in child BMI z-score of 0.047 in Year 1 (p = < 0.005) and of 0.059 in Year 4 (p = < 0.005). Parental BMI change was not significantly associated with Year 4 child BMI z-score.ConclusionThe key indicator of higher child BMI at Year 4 is high BMI at Year 1. Further studies are needed to explore the impact of parental weight change on child BMI z-score and whether interventions targeted at overweight or obese parents, can improve their child’s BMI z-score.
Highlights
This paper aims to explore change in body mass index (BMI) z-score through childhood and the association between parent BMI and child BMI z-score
Many studies have demonstrated that parental weight loss during these programmes is correlated to a reduction in child BMI z-score [20, 21] More recently, evidence is emerging that children do not need to be in attendance at an intervention for their weight to improve and parent-only interventions may be a more costeffective method [22,23,24,25,26] Fewer studies observe the impact of change in parent BMI over time on a child’s BMI z-score when no intervention is provided
This study fills the gap between National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) data and shows that there is a strong association between child BMI z-score at Year 1 and Year 4 with mean BMI z-score increasing between these time points for both boys and girls
Summary
This paper aims to explore change in BMI z-score through childhood and the association between parent BMI and child BMI z-score. Many studies have demonstrated that parental weight loss during these programmes is correlated to a reduction in child BMI z-score [20, 21] More recently, evidence is emerging that children do not need to be in attendance at an intervention for their weight to improve and parent-only interventions (with the main aim of addressing the child’s overweight status) may be a more costeffective method [22,23,24,25,26] Fewer studies observe the impact of change in parent BMI over time (gain or loss) on a child’s BMI z-score when no intervention is provided This is important as it may provide justification for the development of parent-only interventions to prevent parental weight gain, with the indirect effect of preventing child weight gain. This is important in order to determine whether parent-only interventions, focused on preventing parental weight gain regardless of a child’s weight status, could be a viable alternative strategy to parent-child or parent-only interventions focused on the treatment of a child’s obesity
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