EXAMINING DISEASE PATTERNS ACROSS THE LIFE COURSE CONFIRMS THAT OBESITY PREVENTION IN EARLY LIFE IS KEY
Overweight and obesity rates among children are high in many countries, and the prevalence of obesity is increasing worldwide. Many countries also have a high prevalence of underweight among children. This dual challenge is of particular concern because underweight, overweight, and obesity early in life are associated with a range of adverse health outcomes across the life course. For example, with overweight and obesity, this includes several cancers, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, while for underweight, it includes poor bone health, depression and endometriosis.
Previous studies have largely focused on single diseases. In this STAGE study, researchers from the Center for Clinical Research and Prevention at Copenhagen University Hospital—Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg sought to understand overall disease patterns and gain insight into health utilisation, which is known to increase with age.
The team in Copenhagen mapped the sex-specific emergence of the 50 most common diseases requiring hospital contact at ages 15–60 years by categories of childhood BMI (underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obesity). Additionally, they investigated whether health care utilisation, measured by the number of hospital contacts, differed by childhood BMI group.
STUDY FINDINGS
They examined data from 112,952 children, of which 49% were girls and 51% were boys, born between 1962 and 1996, from the Copenhagen School Health Records Register. Using measured weights and heights, BMI was calculated at 7 years of age and was used to classify the children into one of the four BMI groups. Hospital-based disease diagnoses came from national registers.
The team looked at whether the frequency and patterns of disease diagnoses, from 15 to 60 years of age, differed by childhood BMI group.
The findings showed that individuals with childhood obesity had the highest estimated mean number of hospital-based diagnoses by age 60, and this number was slightly higher in females than in males.
Among females and males with obesity in childhood, the most common diagnosis before age 60 years was adult overweight/obesity (36.4% and 11.8%, respectively). There were only minor differences for other diseases by childhood BMI categories.
Dr Julie Aarestrup, lead author of the paper published in Obesity, explains:
“By mapping the 50 most frequent diseases by childhood BMI group and sex, our study provides an extensive life course investigation of how body size in childhood is related to subsequent disease patterns from adolescence to late adult ages.
We found that the probability of receiving a hospital-based diagnosis of “overweight, including obesity” was the diagnosis most strongly related to BMI group earlier in life, and was highest for children with obesity.”
Although this mapping of the most common diseases by childhood BMI group does not provide evidence of causal associations, the study outcomes suggest that childhood BMI is an indicator of disease occurrence and healthcare utilisation across the life course, adding to the existing evidence.
From a health system planning perspective, these findings underscore the importance of investing in paediatric obesity prevention and allocating resources to healthcare that reduces the long-term burden of obesity-related conditions.
PAPER
Julie Aarestrup, Elisabeth W Andersen, Dorthe C Pedersen, Lise G Bjerregaard, Jennifer L Baker. Disease Patterns Across the Life Course by Childhood BMI Group. Obesity (2025).