Reports from CDASA Small Grant Recipients:

Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions, with over 32% of all U.S. children overweight or obese. Researchers have increasingly called for a life course perspective that considers longer-term pathways encompassing pre and post-natal health, family characteristics, and environment from birth through childhood. Macrosomia (birthweight >4000g) appears to be a key risk factor for higher weight in childhood but is relatively understudied; as a result, we do not know whether its social patterns coincide with those of childhood obesity in ways that would lend support to a life course perspective.