Obese Toddlers Tend to Have ‘Higher Cardiometabolic Risk’ at 11 to 12 Years Old, According to Study
A study found that obesity and overweight from early childhood onwards were strongly linked to ‘higher cardiometabolic risk’ between ages 11 and 12 years old.
A study which Pediatrics published in its August 1 issue presented that obese or overweight toddlers tend to have "higher cardiometabolic risk scores" specifically at age 11 to 12 years old.
Burwood, Australia-based Deakin University's Kate Lycett, Ph.D., together with her colleagues, investigated the link between the overall BMI or body mass index and patterns of growth measured at ages two to 11 years in childhood "and cardiometabolic phenotypes at 11 to 12 years, in more than 1,800 children.
Specifically, the study authors found that obesity and overweight from early childhood onwards were strongly linked to "higher cardiometabolic risk" between ages 11 and 12 years old.
In comparison to a healthy weight, overweight kids at six to seven years old had a higher score of risk for metabolic syndrome by "0.23 standard deviation units," while obese kids had higher scores of risk by 0.76 SD units.
ALSO READ: 5 Common Conditions Linked to Obesity
The Link Between Obesity or Overweight and Cardiometabolic Risk
Essentially, links nearly doubled when the children turn 10 to 11 years old. Meanwhile, obese kids had higher result pulse wave velocity at six to seven years of age from 0.64 to 0.73 standard deviation units. A bit higher "carotid intima-media thickness" between 0.20 and 0.30 standard deviation units at all ages.
The highest risk for this particular metabolic syndrome was seen with increasingly high BMI exposure from two to three years of age, the study authors said, "with a gradient of risk" within trajectories.
Specifically, the authors indicate in their study that high early-childhood BMI is already discreetly linked to the cardiometabolic risk's development by the time a child turns 11 to 12 years old, putting emphasis on the urgent need for efficient action to lessen obesity and overweight during early childhood.
DON'T MISS THIS: Why Stress Makes One Overeat or Not Eat at All, and How to Overcome It
What is Cardiometabolic Syndrome?
The cardiometabolic syndrome is a collection of metabolic dysfunctions with characteristics such as resistance to insulin and damaged tolerance to glucose, "atherogenic dyslipidemia, high blood pressure and intra-abdominal adiposity or IAA."
Other terms used to call the cardiometabolic syndrome include insulin resistance disorder, syndrome X, "Beer belly syndrome and Reavan's syndrome," among others. According to health reports, roughly 25 percent of the world's adult individuals have cardiometabolic syndrome.
To date, this metabolic syndrome is acknowledged as a disease entity by reputable health organizations like the World Health Organization, the American Society of Endocrinology, and the National Cholesterol Education Program or NCEP.
Study Findings of the Syndrome in Early Childhood Obesity
Dr. Lycett and her colleagues said their findings were limited by many factors, which include the inability to analyze the impacts of "BMI on actual cardiovascular disease" or CVD of the study population's young age.
Nonetheless, the study findings, the research team noted, "Are in keeping with past studies," but offer more important insights proposing that BMI from as young as two to three years old, is prognostic of "preclinical cardiometabolic phenotypes" by 11 to 12 years of age.
Furthermore, the results have effects for public health by emphasizing the subclinical impacts of childhood obesity, as well as the essentiality of early intervention, concluded the researchers.
The results have implications for public health by highlighting the subclinical effects of obesity in childhood and the importance of early intervention, they concluded.
IN CASE YOU MISSED THIS: 6 Reasons Why You're Gaining Weight Unintentionally
Check out more news and information on Obesity on MD News Daily.
Sep 09, 2020 08:40 AM EDT
