Archives of Disease in Childhood | 2019
P522\u2005The incidence of macrosomia is higher in a cohort of children attending a weight management clinic
Abstract
Introduction Childhood obesity is a rapidly growing issue worldwide today. As of 2017, in Ireland at least 1 in 5 children are overweight or obese.1 Studies have suggested that macrosomic infants are at increased risk of developing childhood obesity.2 Fetal macrosomia is defined as a birthweight >4000 g.3 The 2014 Irish census revealed that 15.39% of babies were born >4000 g,4 however, international data has cited rates as low as 7.5%. Aim To determine whether a cohort of children attending a paediatric weight management clinic had a higher incidence of macrosomia at birth compared against the national average. Method A retrospective cohort study design examining patients that had attended a weight management programme in Temple Street Children’s University Hospital from January to December 2016 and observing the presence of macrosomia at birth. Results Out of 135 patients, 28 were recorded as having a birth weight >4000 g (20.7%). From these 28 patients, 19 were grade 1, 7 were grade 2 and 2 were grade 3. 17 were male (60.7%) and 11 were female (39.3%). Conclusion There is a higher incidence of macrosmia in patients with a BMI >98th percentile attending a weight management clinic than in the national average (20.7% vs 15.39%). Discussion Our result implies association between macrosomia and childhood obesity. By expanding the cohort to include children attending a weight management programme over more than one year, this would strengthen the accuracy of our results. By selecting a cohort from one year of the programme, the sample size was limited to 230 people. Additionally, this observational study was dependent on birth weight recordings in patient charts which was subject to recall bias. References HSE. Childhood obesity levels stabilizing but remain an issue in Ireland [Internet]. Dublin, HSE; 2017 [updated 2017 May 4th, cited 2018 February 7th]. Available from: https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/news/media/pressrel/Childhood-obesity-levels-stabilising-but-remain-an-issue-in-Ireland.html Persons RK, Sevdy LT. Does birth weight predict childhood obesity? J Fam Pract [Internet] 2008;57(6):409–410 Available from: www.mdedge.com/jfponline/article/63185/obesity/does-birth-weight-predict-childhood-obesity Walsh JM, McGowan CA, Mahony R, Foley ME, McAuliffe FM. Low glycemic index diet in pregnancy to prevent macrosomia (ROLO study): randomized control trial. BMJ [Internet] 2012 August 1 [cited 2018 February 7]. 345(5605) Available from: http://www.bmj.com/content/345/bmj.e5605 CSO. Vital statistics annual Report 2014. Cork. 2014. Available from: www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-vsar/vsar2014/births2014/