Prenatal, Perinatal, Early Life, and Sociodemographic Factors Underlying Racial Differences in the Likelihood of High Body Mass Index in Early Childhood

We investigated early childhood disparities in high body mass index (BMI) between Black and White US children. We compared differences in Black and White children's prevalence of sociodemographic, prenatal, perinatal, and early life risk and protective factors; fit logistic regression models predicting high BMI (≥ 95th percentile) at age 4 to 5 years to 2 nationally representative samples followed from birth; and performed separate and pooled-survey estimations of these models. After adjustment for sample design-related variables, models predicting high BMI in the 2 samples were statistically indistinguishable. In the pooled-survey models, Black children's odds of high BMI were 59% higher than White children's (odds ratio [OR] = 1.59; 95% confidence interval [CI]= 1.32, 1.92). Sociodemographic predictors reduced the racial disparity to 46% (OR = 1.46; 95% CI = 1.17, 1.81). Prenatal, perinatal, and early life predictors reduced the disparity to nonsignificance (OR = 1.18; 95% CI = 0.93, 1.49). Maternal prepregnancy obesity and short-duration or no breastfeeding were among predictors for which racial differences in children's exposures most disadvantaged Black children. Racial disparities in early childhood high BMI were largely explained by potentially modifiable risk and protective factors.