Does Overweight in Infancy Persist Through the Preschool Years?
An Analysis of CDC Pediatric Nutrition Surveillance System Data This study was designed to determine whether overweight in infancy (0–11 months) and young childhood (12–35 months) persists through the preschool years. CDC researchers analyzed prospective longitudinal surveillance data from the CDC Pediatric Nutrition Surveillance System. The study included 380,518 low-income children from birth to age 59 months who were born between 1985 and 1990. Overweight was defined as weight-for-height greater than or equal to the 95th percentile based on the 2000 CDC growth reference. Among overweight infants, 35.6% remained overweight at age 1, 27.7% at age 2, 25.1% at age 3, and 23.7% at age 4. In contrast, 8.2% of non-overweight infants became overweight by age 1, 7.9% by age 2, 7.7% by age 3, and 8.3% by age 4. Nearly 63% of overweight 3-year-olds were still overweight a year later, but only 4.1% of non-overweight 3-year-olds became overweight a year later. High-birth-weight children remained
