The intergenerational transmission of thinness

January 01, 0001

The intergenerational transmission of thinness

These UK investigators examined intergenerational associations for thinness and compared maternal and paternal effects in a population-based, cross-sectional design using data from the Health Survey for England from January 1, 2001, through December 31, 2006. Participants included were families with children and adolescents aged 2 to 15 years with anthropometric data available for children and adolescents and 2 parents (N = 4423 families, N = 7078 children and adolescents).

They found: "Of 7078 children and adolescents, 402 (5.7%) were categorized as being thin. Thinness was more common in 2- to 5-year-olds (odds ratio, 1.61) than in 11- to 15-year-olds and in children and adolescents from ethnic minority (black: 2.28; and Asian: 3.65) than white backgrounds, but no differences were observed by sex or socioeconomic status. The strongest predictor of child/adolescent thinness was parental weight status. The prevalence of thinness was highest (16.2%) when both parents were thinner and progressively lower when both parents were in the upper half of the healthy- weight range (7.8%) or were overweight (5.3%) or obese (2.5%), with no differences in the magnitude of maternal and paternal influences."

The authors concluded: "These results are consistent with the idea that many cases of thinness are likely to represent the low end of the healthy distribution of weight and, as such, are likely to have a primarily genetic origin."

The contributions of environmental influences are difficult to sort out in a study of this kind.


For the full abstract, click here.

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 165(10):900-905, October 2011 © 2011 to the American Medical Association
The Intergenerational Transmission of Thinness. Katriina L. Whitaker, Martin J. Jarvis, David Boniface, Jane Wardle. Correspondence to Dr. Wardle: j.wardle@ucl.ac.uk

Category: T. Endocrine/Metabolic/Nutritional. Keywords: thinness, children, parents, cross-sectional survey, journal watch.
Synopsis edited by Dr Linda French, Toledo, Ohio. Posted on Global Family Doctor 18 October 2011

Pearls are an independent product of the Cochrane primary care group and are meant for educational use and not to guide clinical care.

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