Can weight status in the first year of life predict well-being in the first years of school?
Authors' conclusion
Although infant weight status may indicate later health concerns, it was not a reliable predictor of health nurses' well-being concerns in the early school years. The findings demonstrated that predictive performance remained poor across several models, suggesting that infant weight alone may not capture the complexity of factors influencing later well-being as recorded by health nurses.
Study context
- Population
- Children and families with health nurse home visits at 8–10 months and school examinations in the first years of school, Danish Child Health Database
- Participants
- 54,917 children
- Exposure
- Infant weight status (BMI z-score) at 8-10 months as predictor of well-being concerns in first years of school
- Outcome
- Predictive performance (AUC) of infant weight status for 7 health-nurse-assessed well-being indicators (incl. language skills, motor development, emotional well-being, peer relationship problems)
- Follow-up
- First years of school
Methodological detailsregistry-based, Danish Child Health Database
- Registry-based
- Danish Child Health Database
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Predictive performance of infant weight status across all well-being indicators
Poor predictive performance across all indicators of well-being (AUC)
AUC < = 0.533
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
- Certain weight categories, especially severe thinness, overweight and obesity, were linked to specific concerns such as language skills and motor development, with wide CIs
Original publication
Can weight status in the first year of life predict well-being in the first years of school? Int J Obes (Lond). Published 20 August 2026. doi:10.
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