Effect of weight loss by obese children on long-term growth
L. H. Epstein, A. Valoski and J. McCurley
School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pa.
OBJECTIVE--To assess height growth over 10 years in children treated for
obesity. DESIGN--Longitudinal, prospective follow-up of a series of
randomized, controlled weight control trials. SETTING--Specialized
pediatric weight control clinic. PARTICIPANTS--One hundred fifty-eight 6-
to 12-year-old obese children who were followed up for 10 years after
treatment. INTERVENTIONS--Family-based behavioral weight control.
MEASUREMENTS/MAIN RESULTS--At entry the height percentiles of the obese
children were significantly higher (71.6 percentile) than same-sex parent
(52.0 percentile) or midparent (51.5 percentile) height (an estimate of
parental contribution to height). After an average growth of 22.7 cm,
children were 2.2 cm taller than their same-sex parent and decreased to an
average height percentile of 57.8. Multiple regression analysis showed that
child sex, age, baseline height and percent overweight, midparent height,
and height change of the child from baseline to 5 years accounted for 94%
of the variance in growth. Child percent overweight change made no
contribution to predicting height change. Comparison between children obese
and nonobese at 10 years showed no differences in growth.
CONCLUSIONS--Moderate energy restriction with dietary guidance by
overweight children did not negatively influence long-term growth.
