11 May, 2016

Do thin, overweight and obese children have poorer development than their healthy-weight peers at the start of school? Findings from a South Australian data linkage study

Early Childhood Research Quarterly | Volume 35, 2nd Quarter 2016, Pages 85–94

International research utilizing the Early Development Instrument (EDI) as a measure of early child development

Highlights
  • Little is known about how child development varies by BMI at the start of school.
  • Outcomes for thin and overweight children are similar as healthy-weight children.
  • Obese children are more likely to be developmentally vulnerable at the start of school, compared to health weight children.
  • Obese children have higher vulnerability with physical health and wellbeing, compared to healthy weight children.

Full Paper