Signs of cardiometabolic damage in children who are overweight appear as early as 6-8 years of age, but were not evident in preschoolers, providing a window of opportunity for intervention, show the latest results from a long-running Danish study of childhood weight.
The proportion of kids who were overweight (nearly 14% in 2015) was similar between the two groups — those of preschool age (2-5 years) and school age (6-8 years) — but only the latter showed significant signs of cardiometabolic abnormalities.
The results, also published in Obesity Research & Clinical Practice, are the latest in a series of many findings from the HOLBAEK study (formerly known as The Danish Childhood Obesity Biobank) that have emerged since it began in 2007. They were presented, along with a meta-analysis of much of their work, at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO) 2022.
"When comparing children with and without overweight, there were only barely significant differences among the preschool children," said investigator Christine Frithioff-Bøjsøe, MD, but in contrast, "the school children with overweight exhibited significantly higher systolic blood pressure, glucose, insulin, and higher HDL-cholesterol," among other markers, she noted.
"Detection needs to start as early as age 2-5 years because if you wait just a few years longer these children will show early signs of disease starting to take hold.
