The Journal of Pediatrics
Volume 157, Issue 1 , Pages 20-25.e1, July 2010

Infant Overweight Is Associated with Delayed Motor Development

  • Meghan Slining, MS, MPH

      Affiliations

    • Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
    • Corresponding Author InformationReprint requests: Meghan M Slining, MS MPH, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Carolina Population Center, University Square, 123 Franklin St, Chapel Hill, NC 27516-3997.
    • ,
  • Linda S. Adair, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
    • Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
    • ,
  • Barbara Davis Goldman, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
    • ,
  • Judith B. Borja, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Office of Population Studies Foundation, University of San Carlos, Cebu City, Philippines
    • ,
  • Margaret Bentley, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
    • Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC

Received 21 July 2009; received in revised form 17 November 2009; accepted 30 December 2009. published online 15 March 2010.

Objective

To examine how infant overweight and high subcutaneous fat relate to infant motor development.

Study design

Participants were from the Infant Care, Feeding, and Risk of Obesity Project, a prospective, longitudinal study of low-income African-American mother-infant dyads assessed from 3 to 18 months of age (836 observations on 217 infants). Exposures were overweight (weight-for-length z-score ≥90th percentile of 2000 Centers for Disease Control/National Center for Health Statistics growth reference) and high subcutaneous fat (sum of 3 skinfold measurements >90th percentile of our sample). Motor development was assessed by using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development-II. Developmental delay was characterized as a standardized Psychomotor Development Index score <85. Longitudinal models estimated developmental outcomes as functions of time-varying overweight and subcutaneous fat, controlling for age and sex. Alternate models tested concurrent and lagged relationships (earlier weight or subcutaneous fat predicting current motor development).

Results

Motor delay was 1.80 times as likely in overweight infants compared with non-overweight infants (95% CI,1.09-2.97) and 2.32 times as likely in infants with high subcutaneous fat compared with infants with lower subcutaneous fat (95% CI, 1.26-4.29). High subcutaneous fat was also associated with delay in subsequent motor development (odds ratio, 2.27; 95% CI, 1.08-4.76).

Conclusions

Pediatric overweight and high subcutaneous fat are associated with delayed infant motor development.

BSID-II, Bayley Scales of Infant Development, 2nd Edition, MGRS, Multicentre Growth Reference Study, PDI, Psychomotor Development Index, WLZ, Weight-for-length z-scores

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 Supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01 HD42219-02) and the Mead Johnson Children's Nutrition Small Research Grants Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

PII: S0022-3476(09)01314-6

doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2009.12.054

The Journal of Pediatrics
Volume 157, Issue 1 , Pages 20-25.e1, July 2010

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