Early Life Antibiotic Prescriptions and Weight Outcomes in Children 10 Years of Age.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

We previously found that antibiotic use at <24 months of age was associated with slightly higher body weight at 5 years of age. In this study, we examine associations of early life antibiotic prescriptions with weight outcomes at 108 to 132 months of age ("10 years").

METHODS:

We used electronic health record data from 2009 through 2016 from 10 health systems in PCORnet, a national distributed clinical research network. We examined associations of any (vs no) antibiotics at <24 months of age with body mass index z-score (BMI-z) at 10 years adjusted for confounders selected a priori. We further examined dose response (number of antibiotic episodes) and antibiotic spectrum (narrow and broad).

RESULTS:

Among 56,727 included children, 57% received any antibiotics at <24 months; at 10 years, mean (standard deviation) BMI-z was 0.54 (1.14), and 36% had overweight or obesity. Any versus no antibiotic use at <24 months was associated with a slightly higher BMI-z at 10 years among children without a complex chronic condition (β 0.03; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.01, 0.05) or with a complex chronic condition (β 0.09; 95% CI 0.03, 0.15). Any versus no antibiotic use was not associated with odds of overweight or obesity at 10 years among children without (odds ratio 1.02; 95% CI 0.97, 1.07) or with a complex chronic condition (odds ratio 1.07; 95% CI 0.96, 1.19).

CONCLUSIONS:

The small and likely clinically insignificant associations in this study are consistent with our previous 5-year follow-up results, suggesting that, if this relationship is indeed causal, early increases in weight are small but maintained over time.

• Authors: Sheryl L Rifas-Shiman, L Charles Bailey, Doug Lunsford, Matthew F Daley, Ihuoma Eneli, Jonathan Finkelstein, William Heerman, Casie E Horgan, Daniel S Hsia, Melanie Jay, Goutham Rao, Juliane S Reynolds, Jessica L Sturtevant, Sengwee Toh, Leonardo Trasande, Jessica Young, Pi-I Debby Lin, Christopher B Forrest, Jason P Block, PCORnet Antibiotics and Childhood Growth Study Group
• Journal: Academic pediatrics (Acad Pediatr) Vol. 21 Issue 2 Pg. 297-303 (03 2021) ISSN: 1876-2867 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 33130067 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2020 Academic Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Chemical References

• Anti-Bacterial Agents

Topics

• Anti-Bacterial Agents (therapeutic use)
• Body Mass Index
• Child
• Child, Preschool
• Humans
• Obesity
• Overweight (epidemiology)
• Prescriptions