Abstract
It is well known that fat children tend to be taller than their peers and to present a slight acceleration of skeletal and pubertal maturation. To verify this tendency and to examine some of the points that are still controversial, auxological data were studied concerning 303 subjects (141 males and 162 females, aged 6–16 years) affected by simple obesity. Subjects were seen to be taller than average by about 1 SD from 6 to 9 years of age, becoming close to or shorter than average at later ages. Height below the 10th percentile was common in 17% of males and 8% of females, due to hereditary shortness, growth delay or late puberty. Girls had early puberty and menarche; the rate of sexual maturation was variable in boys.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
Abbreviations
- SO:
-
simple obesity
- BMI:
-
body mass index
- GP:
-
Greulich and Pyle method
- TW2-RUS:
-
Tanner and Whitehouse method for skeletal age assessment (radius, ulna and short bones score)
- GECS:
-
growth evaluation computerized system
- G:
-
genital development
- B:
-
breast development
- PH:
-
pubic hair development
- M:
-
menarche
- SDS:
-
standard deviation scores
References
Aicardi G, de Toni E, Di Battista E, Vignolo M, Naselli A (1985) Eventi morfo-biologici della puberta'. Riv It Ped (IJP) 11:222–230
Alcazar ML, Alvear J, Muzzo S (1984) Influence of nutrition on the bone development in children. Arch Latinoam Nutr 34:298–307
Bernfeld J, Dehan O (1976) Croissance et développement de l'enfant obése. Etude longitudinale. Rev Fr Endocrinol Clin 17:141–164
Bruch H (1941) Obesity in relation to puberty. J Pediatr 19:365–375
Cacciari E, Cicognani A, Pirazzoli P, Zappulla F, Tassono P, Bernardi F, Salardi S, Mazzanti L (1977) Effect of obesity on the hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal function in childhood. Acta Paediatr Scand 66:345–349
Court JM (1977) Obesity in childhood. Med J Aust 1:888–891
Doyard PA (1981) Obésité. In: Job JC, Pierson H (eds) Endocrinologie pèdiatrique et croissance, 2nd edn. Flammarion, Paris, pp 479–510
Forbes GB (1977) Nutrition and growth. J Pediatr 91:40–42
Frisch RE (1985) Fatness, menarche, and female fertility. Perspect Biol Med 28:611–633
Garn SM, Haskell JA (1960) Fat thickness and developmental status in childhood and adolescence. Am J Dis Child 99:746–751
Garn S, Clark DC (1975) Nutrition, growth, development and maturation: findings from the ten-state nutrition survey of 1968–1970. Pediatrics 56:306–319
Garn SM, La Velle M, Pilkington J (1983) Comparison of fatness in premenarcheal and postmenarcheal girls of the same age. J Pediatr 103:328–331
Greulich WW, Pyle SI (1959) Radiographic atlas of skeletal development of the hand and wrist, 2nd edn. Stanford University Press, Stanford
Hammar SL, Campbell MM, Campbell VA, Moores NL, Sareen C, Gareis FJ, Lucas B (1972) An interdisciplinary study of adolescent obesity. J Pediatr 80:373–383
Heald FP, Hollander RJ (1965) The relationship between obesity in adolescence and early growth. J Pediatr 67:35–38
Johnston FE, Roche AF, Schell LM, Wettenhall NB (1975) Critical weight at menarche. Am J Dis Child 129:19–23
Laron Z, Ben-Dan I, Shrem M, Dickerman Z, Lilos P (1978) Puberty in simple obese boys and girls. In: Cacciari E, Laron Z, Raiti S (eds) Obesity in childhood. Academic Press, London, pp 29–40
Nicoletti I, Bruni V, Rolla M (1984) La diagnosi auxologica di 1^ e 2^ livello per la prevenzione e la clinica nelle alterazioni della crescita. Acta Med Auxol 16:3–31
Rolland-Cachera MF, Sempè M, Guilloud-Bataille M, Patois E, Pèquignot-Guggenbuhl F, Fautrad V (1982) Adiposity indices in children. Am J Clin Nutr 36:178–184
Tanner JM, Whitehouse RH (1975) Revised standards for triceps and subscapular skinfolds in British children. Arch Dis Child 50:142–145
Tanner JM, Whitehouse RH (1976) Clinical longitudinal standards for height, weight, height velocity, weight velocity and the stages of puberty. Arch Dis Child 51:170–179
Tanner JM, Whitehouse RH, Marshall WA, Healy MJR, Goldstein H (1975) Assessment of skeletal maturity and prediction of adult height (TW2 method). Academic Press, London
Wojdon-Machal H (1980) Evaluation of skeletal age in obese children. Pediatr Pol 3:315–322
Wolff OH (1955) Obesity in childhood: a study of birth weight, the height and onset of puberty. Q J Med 24:109–118
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Vignolo, M., Naselli, A., Di Battista, E. et al. Growth and development in simple obesity. Eur J Pediatr 147, 242–244 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00442687
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00442687