The Relationship between Premature Birth and Obesity among Children Aged 10 to 17

Abstract

Abstract Background: Prematurity is the leading cause in infant mortality in the United States. Approximately one third of all infant deaths can be attributed in some manner to prematurity. Some studies show that preterm births are linked to childhood obesity. One major hypothesis that may suggest an association between preterm births and obesity later in life is the period of “catch up growth” fast weight gain that occurs after birth. Preterm infants may be programmed to eat more to compensate weight gain and growth. This capstone investigates the association between premature birth and obesity among children aged 10 to 17 years in the U.S. Methods: The National Survey of Children’s Health was conducted via telephone using a list-assisted random digital-dial (RDD), and cellular phones number to collect various data from children aged 10 to 17 years old. Two variables were used for this study. The independent variable was prematurity, and the dependent variable was body mass index (BMI). Pearson’s Chi Square tests and logistic regression were used to examine the relationship between prematurity status and body mass index (BMI). Results: Of the 39,834 ten to seventeen year old children in the sample, 4,226 (10.60%) were born premature. Premature children were more likely to live in a single parent household than non-premature children. Premature children were also more likely to have public health insurance and have unemployed parents than non-premature children. Using Pearson’s Chi square tests, participants tended to be underweight, overweight, or obese if they were born premature. Race significantly predicted both dichotomous BMI and categorical BMI. Logistic regression was used to compare the effects of prematurity on the dichotomous BMI variable controlling for various demographics. There tended to be an association between prematurity and dichotomous BMI in the uncontrolled model (p=0.093). When controlling for demographics and TV watching, there was no association between prematurity and dichotomous BMI. Discussion: There were some differences in body weight percentages between adolescents who were born premature and those who were not born premature. Adolescents that were born premature tended to have body weights other than the normal ranging either too high or too low. These results suggest that prematurity may play some role in weight gain. More research is needed to determine if and how weight gain and premature births are associated.