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Research

Do overweight children necessarily make overweight adults? Repeated cross sectional annual nationwide survey of Japanese girls and women over nearly six decades

BMJ 2008; 337 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.a802 (Published 21 August 2008) Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a802
  1. Ikuko Funatogawa, assistant professor1,
  2. Takashi Funatogawa, statistician 2,
  3. Eiji Yano, professor1
  1. 1Department of Hygiene and Public Health, Teikyo University School of Medicine, Tokyo 173-8605, Japan
  2. 2Clinical Research Planning Department, Chugai Pharmaceutical Company, Tokyo 103-8324
  1. Correspondence to: I Funatogawa ifunatogawa-tky{at}umin.ac.jp
  • Accepted 11 June 2008

Abstract

Objective To compare growth curves of body mass index from children to adolescents, and then to young adults, in Japanese girls and women in birth cohorts born from 1930 to 1999.

Design Retrospective repeated cross sectional annual nationwide surveys (national nutrition survey, Japan) carried out from 1948 to 2005.

Setting Japan.

Participants 76 635 females from 1 to 25 years of age.

Main outcome measure Body mass index.

Results Generally, body mass index decreased in preschool children (2-5 years), increased in children (6-12 years) and adolescents (13-18 years), and slightly decreased in young adults (19-25 years) in these Japanese females. However, the curves differed among birth cohorts. More recent cohorts were more overweight as children but thinner as young women. The increments in body mass index in early childhood were larger in more recent cohorts than in older cohorts. However, the increments in body mass index in adolescents were smaller and the decrease in body mass index in young adults started earlier, with lower peak values in more recent cohorts than in older cohorts. The decrements in body mass index in young adults were similar in all birth cohorts.

Conclusions An overweight birth cohort in childhood does not necessarily continue to be overweight in young adulthood. Not only secular trends in body mass index at fixed ages but also growth curves for wide age ranges by birth cohorts should be considered to study obesity and thinness. Growth curves by birth cohorts were produced by a repeated cross sectional annual survey over nearly six decades.

Footnotes

  • Contributors: IF designed the study, acquired and analysed the data, and prepared the manuscript. TF helped in the analysis and interpretation of data. EY supervised the study. IF is the guarantor.

  • Funding: IF’s research was supported by grant-in-aid for young scientists (B) 20700255 from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology.

  • Competing interests: None declared.

  • Ethical approval: Not needed.

  • Provenance and peer review: Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

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