EFFECT OF WEIGHT-LOSS BY OBESE CHILDREN ON LONG-TERM GROWTH

Objective.-To assess height growth over 10 years in children treated f or obesity. Design.-Longitudinal, prospective follow-up of a series of randomized, controlled weight control trials. Setting.-Specialized pe diatric weight control clinic. Participants.-One hundred fifty-eight 6 - to 12-year-old obese children who were followed up for 10 years afte r treatment. Interventions.-Family-based behavioral weight control. Me asurements/Main Results.-At entry the height percentiles of the obese children were significantly higher (71.6 percentile) than same-sex par ent (52.0 percentile) or mid-parent (51.5 percentile) height (an estim ate of parental contribution to height). After an average growth of 22 .7 cm, children were 2.2 cm taller than their same-sex parent and decr eased to an average height percentile of 57.8. Multiple regression ana lysis showed that child sex, age, baseline height and percent overweig ht, midparent height, and height change of the child from baseline to 5 years accounted for 94% of the variance in growth. Child percent ove rweight change made no contribution to predicting height change. Compa rison between children obese and nonobese at 10 years showed no differ ences in growth. Conclusions.-Moderate energy restriction with dietary guidance by overweight children did not negatively influence long-ter m growth.