Insufficient weight gain under 3 years is associated with short stature in school-aged children

Purpose: If children show inadequate infant weight gain, their growth velocity will also decrease, especially £3 years of age. We hypothesized that such children may not only lead to being underweight but also short stature during childhood, and this trend will follow them through adolescence. Methods: A total of 271 children were enrolled. The Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to determine the relationships of the increment of weight gain £3 years, from birth to 1.6 years and from 1.6 years to 3 years of age, with height and weight at 3, 7 years and pubertal age, respectively. Results: The Pearson correlation coefficients between weight gain each of from birth to 1.6 years and from 1.6 years to 3 years of age and weight at pubertal age were 0.34 and 0.37 in boys and 0.47 and 0.48 in girls, and height at pubertal age were 0.34 and 0.24 in boys and 0.65 and 0.40 in girls, respectively. Conclusions: Insufficient weight gain in children £3 years, especially £1.6 years is not only associated being underweight, but also short stature at 3 and 7 years and at the onset of puberty and it is also suspected that adult height and weight may be affected.