Migrant Background and Weight Gain in Early Infancy: Results from the German Study Sample of the IDEFICS Study

Abstract

ObjectiveTo examine variations in infant weight gain between children of parents with and without migrant background and to investigate how these differences are explained by pre- and perinatal factors.MethodsWe used data on birth weight and weight at six months from well-child check-up books that were collected from a population-based German sample of children in the IDEFICS study (n = 1,287). We calculated unadjusted and adjusted means for weight z-scores at birth and six months later. We applied linear regression for change in weight z-score and we calculated odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for rapid weight gain by logistic regression, adjusted for biological, social and behavioural factors.ResultsWeight z-scores for migrants and Germans differed slightly at birth, but were markedly increased for Turkish and Eastern European infants at age six months. Turkish infants showed the highest change in weight z-score during the first 6 months (ß = 0.35; 95% CI 0.14–0.56) and an increased probability of rapid weight gain compared with German infants. Examination of the joint effect of migrant and socioeconomic status (SES) showed the greatest change in weight z-scores in Turkish infants from middle SES families (ß = 0.77; 95% CI 0.40–1.14) and infants of parents from Eastern European countries with high SES (ß = 0.72; 95% CI 0.13–1.32).ConclusionsOur results support the hypothesis that migrant background is an independent risk factor for infant weight gain and suggest that the onset of health inequalities in overweight starts in early infancy.

Understanding rapid infant weight gain prevention: a systematic review of quantitative and qualitative evidence

“…Risk factors related to infant feeding have received particular attention (7)(8)(9), with a higher protein intake during infancy being causally related to both RIWG and COO (10,11). Increased risk of RIWG has also been associated with a range of other factors such as low birth weight (8), maternal smoking during pregnancy (12), gestational diabetes (12), infant day care attendance (13) and low socioeconomic position (SEP) (12,14).…”

Connecting the Dots in Childhood Obesity Disparities: a Review of Growth Patterns from Birth to Pre-Adolescence

“…Several studies categorized the difference variable into an indicator of rapid growth using Ong and Loos’s definition [37], either dichotomizing (>0.67 vs. ≤0.67 SD)[27, 35] or trichotomizing (<−0.67, −0.67 to 0.67, >0.67 SD) [28, 30]; or top quartile of weight gain [26, 33]. These definitions were applied to periods of varying length (range: 3 months to 2 years) and ages (range: birth-3 months, 3-5 years).…”

“…From birth to 12 months, minority race/ethnicity and lower SES was typically associated with faster weight gain (Table 1; Appendix Table S2) indicated by more positive weight differences [25, 30, 34-36], higher risk of rapid growth [28, 33], or diminishment of lower weight in lower SES or minorities with increasing age [45]. However, results were mixed [29, 36, 39, 42, 49], especially with regard to specific race/ethnic groups [28, 30, 45].…”

“…However, results were mixed [29, 36, 39, 42, 49], especially with regard to specific race/ethnic groups [28, 30, 45]. Race/ethnicity and SES were less consistently associated with categorical definitions of rapid infant weight gain [28, 30, 33, 35]. After one year of age, social differences in faster weight gain were mixed [26-28, 39, 55] (Appendix Table S2).…”

“…Most studies reported estimates from models simultaneously adjusted for numerous risk factors [26, 27, 30, 31, 43, 44, 46, 50, 51, 56, 59-61, 70], or conducted minimally adjusted analysis [41, 42, 48, 49]. In three studies, the primary study aim did not align with our research question [29, 38, 45], but provided findings that informed our research question of social differences of growth.…”