Association of Rapid Weight Gain During Early Childhood With Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Japanese Adolescents

BACKGROUND: Because of the lack of relevant data, we investigated the association between rapid weight gain (RWG) during early childhood and cardiovascular risk factors in Japanese adolescents. METHODS: The source population comprised 2285 adolescents aged 13 to 14 years enrolled in any public school in Fukuroi City, Japan during 2008, 2009, or 2010. Since there are no private schools in this city, almost all adolescents who lived in the city went to 1 of these schools. We obtained data on blood pressure (BP), serum lipids, and anthropometry during adolescence, as well as anthropometry at birth, age 1.5 years, and age 3 years, from the Maternal and Child Health Handbook for 1624 children. RWG was defined as a change in body-weight standard deviation score greater than 0.67 from age 0 to 1.5 years or from age 1.5 to 3 years. RESULTS: After adjusting for confounding factors, adolescents who had RWG from 0 to age 1.5 years or from age 1.5 to 3 years were more likely to be overweight. Adolescents who had RWG during both periods were more likely to be overweight (odds ratio [OR], 6.37; 95% CI, 3.06-13.24), have unfavorable lipid concentrations (OR, 2.03; 95% CI, 1.15-3.58), and have high BP (OR: 2.36, 95% CI: 1.34-4.13). The associations with unfavorable lipid concentrations and high BP disappeared after further adjusting for current body mass index. CONCLUSIONS: RWG during early childhood predicts unfavorable lipid concentrations and high BP in Japanese adolescents, and this relationship is mediated by body mass index in later life.