Pre-school children who are overweight or obese have a higher risk of bone fractures during childhood than normal weight pre-schoolers, according to a study published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.
The study included 466,997 children with weight and height measurements at age 4 years who were followed for a median of 4.9 years.
Fractures occurred in 9.20 per cent of underweight, 10.06 per cent of normal weight, 11.28 per cent of overweight, and 13.05 per cent of obese children. Compared with normal weight, overweight and obesity were linked with 42 per cent and 74 per cent higher risks of lower limb fractures, respectively, and a 10 per cent and 19 per cent higher risk of upper limb fractures, respectively.
“In a cohort of almost half a million children from Catalonia, Spain, we have found a strong association between pre-school overweight/obesity and the risk of fracture during childhood. More research is needed to further understand the mechanisms underlying this correlation” said senior author Daniel Prieto-Alhambra, PhD, of the University of Oxford, in the UK.
Image: Credit:Rachaphak
Source: AlphaGalileo
Reference: Lane, J.C., Butler, K.L., Poveda‐Marina, J.L., Martinez‐Laguna, D., Reyes, C., de Bont, J., Javaid, M.K., Logue, J., Compston, J.E., Cooper, C., Duarte‐Salles, T., Furniss, D. and Prieto‐Alhambra, D. (2020), Preschool Obesity Is Associated With an Increased Risk of Childhood Fracture: A Longitudinal Cohort Study of 466,997 Children and Up to 11 Years of Follow‐up in Catalonia, Spain. JBMR. doi:10.1002/jbmr.3984
