These findings indicate that as the number of cardiovascular risk factors increases, so does the severity of asymptomatic coronary and aortic atherosclerosis in young people.

Because overweight is associated with various risk factors even among young children, it is possible that the successful prevention and treatment of obesity in childhood could reduce the adult incidence of cardiovascular disease.

No abstract

Overweight or obese children who were obese as adults had increased risks of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and carotid-artery atherosclerosis. The risks of these outcomes among overweight or obese children who became nonobese by adulthood were similar to those among persons who were never obese. (Funded by the Academy of Finland and others.).

Additional data are needed to assess the independent relationship of childhood weight status to CHD morbidity. Because normal-weight children who become obese adults have adverse risk factor levels and probably will be at increased risk for adult morbidity, our results emphasize the need for both primary and secondary prevention.

Childhood BMI is associated with adult adiposity, but it is possible that the magnitude of this association depends on the relative fatness of children.

Background: Although body fat patterning has been related to adverse health outcomes in adults, its importance in children and adolescents is less certain. Objective: We examined the relation of circumference (waist and hip) and skinfold-thickness (subscapular and triceps) measurements to lipid and insulin concentrations among 2996 children and adolescents aged 5-17 y. Design: This was a community-based, cross-sectional study conducted in 1992-1994. Results: A central or abdominal distribution of body fat was related to adverse concentrations of triacylglycerol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and insulin; these associations were independent of race, sex, age, weight, and height. These associations were observed whether fat patterning was characterized by using 1) waist circumference alone (after adjustment for weight and height), 2) waist-to-hip ratio, or 3) principal components analysis. Compared with a child at the 10th percentile of waist circumference, a child at the 90th percentile was estimated to have, on average, higher concentrations of LDL cholesterol (0.17 mmol/L), triacylglycerol (0.11 mmol/L), and insulin (6 pmol/L) and lower concentrations of HDL cholesterol (Ϫ0.07 mmol/L). These differences, which were independent of weight and height, were significant at the 0.001 level and were consistent across race-sex groups. Conclusions: These findings emphasize the importance of obtaining information on body fat distribution, waist circumference in particular, in children. Waist circumference, which is relatively easy to measure, may help to identify children likely to have adverse concentrations of lipids and insulin.Am J Clin Nutr 1999;69:308-17. KEY WORDSFat distribution, children, lipids, insulin, waist circumference, hip circumference, skinfold thickness, body weight, Bogalusa Heart Study INTRODUCTIONAfter Vague's (1) observation that android obesity among women is associated with diabetes and atherosclerosis, a preponderance of body fat in the abdomen, upper body, and trunk was found to be predictive of diabetes (2, 3) and cardiovascular disease (4, 5). Several investigators also reported that fat distribution is related to lipid concentrations, insulin concentrations, and hypertension (6-8). These associations, which have frequently been shown to be independent of the general degree of obesity, have been found with the use of various skinfold-thickness and circumference measurements to characterize fat distribution.In contrast with these findings in adults, the importance of fat distribution in early life is less certain. Various fat patterns have been associated with concentrations of lipids and insulin and with blood pressure in some studies (9-14), but equivocal or negative results have also been reported (15)(16)(17)(18)(19); it is also possible that fat patterning is associated with risk factors only after sexual maturation (17). The study of fat distribution among children and adolescents can be difficult because there are marked changes in circumferences (20), skinfold thicknesses ...

To identify loci for age at menarche, we performed a meta-analysis of 32 genome-wide association studies in 87,802 women of European descent, with replication in up to 14,731 women. In addition to the known loci at LIN28B (P=5.4×10−60) and 9q31.2 (P=2.2×10−33), we identified 30 novel menarche loci (all P<5×10−8) and found suggestive evidence for a further 10 loci (P<1.9×10−6). New loci included four previously associated with BMI (in/near FTO, SEC16B, TRA2B and TMEM18), three in/near other genes implicated in energy homeostasis (BSX, CRTC1, and MCHR2), and three in/near genes implicated in hormonal regulation (INHBA, PCSK2 and RXRG). Ingenuity and MAGENTA pathway analyses identified coenzyme A and fatty acid biosynthesis as biological processes related to menarche timing.