Association of Antibiotics in Infancy With Early
Childhood Obesity. JAMA Pediatr. Published
online September 29, 2014. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2014.1539.
******This is for the abstract. I did a
free trial with JAMA for full access.****
A coworker recently brought this research
to my attention. This is an article that demonstrates how complex the obesity
issue is and how there are factors involved that are still being discovered and
studied.
The study examined the use of antibiotics
in infancy and the relationship to childhood obesity. This was a cohort study
comprised of 64580 children. Data was collected using health records from the
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia from 2001-2013. The study population included children with 1 visit to the PCP from 0-11 months of age, then again from 12-23 months of age, and at least one additional visit between 24 and 59 months for BMI. Excluded from the study were premature or low birth weight infants. The researchers then reviewed exposure to antibiotics during the first 23 months of life.
Results:
-69% of the study population was exposed
to antibiotics between 0-23 months of age.
-an increased risk of obesity was found
for those with antibiotic exposure but it was significant for those with 4 or
more exposures in the 23 month time frame.
-Additionally, the increase in obesity
risk was only seen with broad spectrum drugs and not with narrow spectrum
drugs.
-The earlier the exposure to broad
spectrum drugs, the higher the risk for obesity.
The authors speculate repeated antibiotic
exposure has an impact on the health of intestinal flora which in turn effects
long term energy homeostasis. The researchers do point out that this is only
one factor in the obesity epidemic.
I’ve seen several other articles
discussing gut health and the link to obesity. It will be interesting to see what
is discovered with future research on this topic.
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