Original article
Overweight and Obesity Between Adolescence and Young Adulthood: A 10-year Prospective Cohort Study

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2010.06.019Get rights and content

Abstract

Objectives

To assess changes in overweight and obesity between adolescence and young adulthood.

Design

Prospective 8-wave cohort study in Victoria, Australia, with 1,520 adolescents tracked from the age of 14 for a period of 10 years.

Main outcome measures

Participants aged <18 years were classified as non-overweight, overweight, or obese according to International Obesity Taskforce cutoff points. In those aged >18 years overweight was defined as a body mass index (BMI) ≥25; and obesity as a BMI ≥30.

Results

The proportion of overweight individuals increased from 20% in mid-adolescence to 33% at the age of 24 years. Obesity increased from 3.6% to 6.7%. Approximately 40% of young adults with a BMI ≥25 had been persistently at normal weights during adolescence and approximately 80% had been at a normal weight at some point. Around half of obese young adults had never been classified as obese as adolescents. No individual with persistent obesity in adolescence had a BMI <25 at 24 years. A total of 31% of females and 59% of males who had been overweight for only one or two waves of adolescent data collection had a BMI ≥25 at 24 years.

Conclusions

Substantial shifts in overweight and obesity occur between adolescence and young adulthood; the extent of continuity depends on both the severity and persistence of adiposity in adolescence. Few adolescents who peak into obesity or are persistently overweight achieve a normal weight in young adulthood. Resolution is more common in those who are less persistently overweight as teenagers, suggesting scope for lifestyle interventions in this subgroup.

Section snippets

Sample

Between August 1992 and March 2003, we conducted an 8-wave cohort study of adolescent and young adult health in the state of Victoria, Australia. Data collection protocols were approved by The Royal Children's Hospital's Ethics in Human Research Committee. Informed consent was obtained from participating school organizations and parents. Further participant consent was obtained from those in the young adult waves. The cohort was initially defined with a two-stage cluster sample in which we

Results

The sex ratio of the cohort (males, 46%) was similar to that in Victorian schools at the time of sampling [19]. A total of 22% of the sample had parents who were separated or divorced, 24% grew up in a household speaking a language other than English, 12% were not born in Australia, and 74% attended a metropolitan school at study commencement. The highest level of parental education was incomplete secondary schooling (32%), complete secondary schooling, vocational diploma, or certificate (34%),

Discussion

Even in the context of rising obesity rates in childhood, there is a substantial change in the weight status between adolescence and young adulthood. The prevalence of overweight status (BMI ≥25) increased by 65% between mid-adolescence and the age of 24 years, and the prevalence of obesity (BMI ≥30) has almost doubled. Approximately two in five young adults with a BMI ≥25 had been persistently at normal weights during adolescence and four in five had been in the normal weight range at some

Acknowledgments

All the authors declare that the answer to the questions on your competing interest are all no.

Ethic approval by Ethics in Human Research Committee of the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne Australia.

The Corresponding Author has the right to grant on behalf of all authors and does grant on behalf of all authors, an exclusive license (or non exclusive for government employees) on a worldwide basis to the BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and its Licensees to permit this article (if accepted) to be

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