Letter

Implications of childhood obesity for adult health

BMJ 2002; 324 doi: 10.1136/bmj.324.7338.676 (Published 16 March 2002)
Cite this as: BMJ 2002;324:676

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Message on childhood obesity was missed

  1. E Leigh Gibson (l.gibson@ucl.ac.uk), senior research fellow,
  2. Jane Wardle, professor of clinical psychology,
  3. Carolyn Edwards, clinical psychologist,
  4. Lucy Cooke, research fellow
  1. ICRF Health Behaviour Unit, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London WC1E 6BT
  2. University of Glasgow, Glasgow G3 8SJ
  3. Sir James Spence Institute of Child Health, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle NE1 4LP

    EDITOR—We are concerned that Abbasi's website of the week review on the article by Wright et al may have left both health professionals and the public with the erroneous impression that obesity in (peripubescent) childhood does not predict obesity in later life and is not a cause for concern. 1 2

    The data of Wright et al show that body mass index in childhood and at age 50 is strongly associated—for example, among children in the top quarter of weight at 9 years, 73% (59/81) become overweight or obese adults at age 50, whereas of those who are in the top quarter at 13, 82% (64/78) are overweight or obese at age 50. This is a highly significant association, and it is not …

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