Childhood Environmental and Genetic Predictors of Adulthood Obesity: The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study

2011

Obesity from childhood to adulthood is associated with adverse health later in life. Increased youth BMI is a risk factor for later obesity, but it is unknown whether identification of other risk factors, including recently discovered genetic markers, would help to identify children at risk of developing adult obesity.Our objective was to examine the childhood environmental and genetic predictors of adult obesity.We followed 2119 individuals of the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study for up to 27 yr since baseline (1980, age 3-18 yr).We evaluated adult obesity [body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30 kg/m(2)].The independent predictors (P0.05) of adult obesity included childhood BMI, C-reactive pro…