Intergenerational change and familial aggregation of body mass index

Abstract

The relationship between parental BMI and that of their adult offspring, when increased adiposity can become a clinical issue, is unknown. We investigated the intergenerational change in body mass index (BMI) distribution, and examined the sex-specific relationship between parental and adult offspring BMI. Intergenerational change in the distribution of adjusted BMI in 1443 complete families (both parents and at least one offspring) with 2286 offspring (1263 daughters and 1023 sons) from the west of Scotland, UK, was investigated using quantile regression. Familial correlations were estimated from linear mixed effects regression models.The distribution of BMI showed little intergenerational change in the normal range