Early Life Antibiotic Exposure and Weight Development in Children

Abstract

Repeated exposure to antibiotics early in life, especially β-lactam agents, is associated with increased weight and height. If causality of obesity can be established in future studies, this further highlights the need for restrictive antibiotic use and avoidance of prescriptions when there is minimal clinical benefit.

Antibiotic treatment in infants: effect on the gastro-intestinal microbiome and long term consequences

“…15 These adverse effects of antibiotics may play a role in the worldwide childhood obesity epidemic and highlight the importance of judicious use of antibiotics during infancy, favoring narrow-spectrum antibiotics. 14 Administration of three or more courses of antibiotics before children reach an age of two years is associated with an increased risk of early childhood obesity.…”

“…17 Repeated exposure to broadspectrum antibiotics at ages 0 to 23 months is associated with early childhood obesity. 15 Sixtynine percent of children were exposed to a mean of 2.3 antibiotic courses before the age of 24 months. 18 Exposure to antibiotics during the first 12 months of life was associated with a small increase in BMI in boys, but not in girls, aged 5-8 years in a large international cross-sectional survey .…”

“…20 If causality of obesity can be established in future studies, this will further highlight the need for restrictive antibiotic use. 15 Because common childhood infections were the most frequent diagnoses co-occurring with broad-spectrum antibiotic prescription, narrowing antibiotic selection is potentially a modifiable risk factor for childhood obesity. 18 Administration early in life, cumulative exposure and broad spectrum antibiotics were additional risk factors associated with later obesity.…”

The Incidence of Acute Respiratory Infections in Children who Have Undergone Critical Conditions in the Neonatal Period, Depending on the Severity оf Organ Dysfunction. Retrospective Cohort Study

“…Однако, в последние годы в некоторых исследова-ниях была установлена связь антибактериальной тера-пии в первые месяцы жизни с риском развития у детей в последующем таких заболеваний, как обструктивный бронхит и бронхиальная астма, аллергический ринит, атопический дерматит, ожирение [7][8][9].…”

“…Данная ассоциация трактуется либо как возможность опосредованного влияния антибактери-альных препаратов на микробиом и нарушение, в част-ности, адаптивного иммунитета к вирусной инфекции, которая, в свою очередь, увеличивает вероятность воз-никновения острой респираторной вирусной инфекции нижних дыхательных путей, либо как генетически детер-минированная повышенная восприимчивость к вирус-ной инфекции, которая увеличивает вероятность назна-чения антибактериальной терапии ребенку при острой инфекции дыхательных путей [9,11,15].…”