ESPE Abstracts

Background and objectives: A positive association between birth weight and BMI among children and adolescents has been shown in many populations. Several studies have indicated that breastfed children have lower risk of childhood obesity. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the BMI trajectory according to birth weight status and protective effect of breastfeeding on overweight/obesity prevalence in children 6 years of age.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2016 utilizing data from the National Health Information Database (NHID) of Korea. The total number of 38,039 participants was followed until the end of 2016, provided that participants were completely eligible for all health check-ups from birth to 6 years of age. At each check-up period, multiple logistic regressions was used to investigate the association between three birth weight (BW) status (low BW [LBW], normal BW [NBW], high BW [HBW]) and growth development categorized into three groups, overweight/obese, normal and underweight.

Results: HBW infants are highly likely to be overweight/obesity compared to NBW infants (OR 1.70~2.35) and LBW infants are highly likely to be underweight (OR 1.69~2.20) through 6 years of age. The risk of overweight/obesity decreases significantly if HBW infant get exclusively breast-feeding for 6 months (OR 0.54~0.79).

Conclusions: High birth weight status is associated with overweight/obesity during early childhood. Exclusively breastfeeding is a significant protective factor against overweight/obese in children with HBW.