Predictors of overweight and overfatness in a multiethnic pediatric population. Child and Adolescent Trial for Cardiovascular Health Collaborative Research Group

Abstract

The goal of the study was to determine whether overweight or overfatness were predicted from sex, race or ethnicity, school site, and intervention or control status for children who were 9 y old at the outset of the Child and Adolescent Trial for Cardiovascular Health (CATCH). In this ethnically and geographically diverse group of 5106 students, height, weight, and triceps skinfold thickness were measured at 9 (baseline) and 11 y (follow-up) of age. The strongest predictors of status at follow-up were baseline overweight (odds ratio: 69.0; 95% CI: 54.9, 96.3) and overfatness (odds ratio: 27.4; 95% CI: 22.4, 33.4); site, African American race or ethnicity, and male sex were also significant independent associations. Children in the overweight (> 85th percentile for body mass index) group had significantly higher adjusted means for total blood cholesterol, higher apolipoprotein B concentrations, lower mean HDL-cholesterol concentrations, and lower performance on the 9-min run than those in other groups (< 15th, 15-49th, or 50-85th body mass index percentiles). Similar results were found for these factors for those subjects with greater triceps skinfold-thickness measurements. Groups of children who were overweight and overfat at baseline were more likely to be overweight and overfat at follow-up and to have more cardiovascular risk factors than their peers.