AIM: To verify scientific and epidemiologic evidences of the hypothesis of association between birth weight and overweight/obesity in childhood and adolescence based on a systematic review of the literature. METHOD: A systematic review was performed in the MedLine/Pubmed, Scielo-Brasil and Lilacs electronic bases. Articles were classified into two categories of analysis based on the Human Development Index of the country where the study was performed: a) birth weight and overweight/obesity in countries with a high Human Development Index; b) birth weight and overweight/obesity in countries with a high, but still ascending Human Development Index, and medium Human Development Index. Downs & Black checklist was adapted and used to evaluate the methodological quality of the fourteen articles chosen. RESULTS: In both categories the association between high birth weight and overweight/obesity was predominant. Additionally, one of the seven articles in the first category found low birth weight as a predictor of body and abdominal fat. In the second category, three articles identified the association between catch-up growth and overweight/obesity and another found low birth weight as a protector for overweight (including obesity). Among the four Brazilian studies found, the association between birth weight and overweight or obesity was not statistically significant in two articles. CONCLUSIONS: High birth weight was associated with overweight/obesity in the majority of articles. The association between low birth weight and overweight/obesity needs ongoing investigation.
Overweight; Obesity; Birth Weight; Literature Review
