ABSTRACT
Objective@#To explore the characteristics of the adiposity peak and rebound in early life among first year primary school students with different body weight measures, so as to provide scientific evidence for the development of prevention interventions to manage childhood overweight and obesity.@*Methods@#A total of 2 330 first year primary school students who received routine physical examinations from September to December in 2019 were selected. According to body mass index (BMI) status, participants were divided into three categories:healthy weight, overweight, and obese. The BMI growth trajectories of the three groups were fitted by gender using the generalized additive mixed model from 1 to 80 months, retrospectively. Each subject s age at the adiposity peak and rebound, and associated BMI values, were calculated.@*Results@#The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 16.31 % (380/ 2 330 ) and 16.09% (375/2 330), respectively. For first year students with obesity, the BMI value continued to be higher than their overweight or healthy weight counterparts during the first 80 months of life. The age at the adiposity peak for these students, whose BMI status varied, was about nine months. However, the BMI of children with overweight or obesity was much higher than that of healthy weight subjects. Age at adiposity rebound was 72 months for healthy weight children, 52 to 55 months in children defined as overweight, and 22 to 23 months in children with obesity. For healthy weight children, the fitted value of BMI at the adiposity rebound was less than that of overweight and obese children.@*Conclusion@#Age at the adiposity peak was largely similar among first year students with different BMI patterns; however, age at adiposity rebound was different. Age at adiposity rebound among children with obesity was much earlier than that of other subjects, and their BMI values were much higher.