Is Antibiotic Use a Determinant of Early Childhood Obesity?

Obesity in early childhood has been associated with risk factors such as sleep duration and screen time. Researchers investigated another potentially modifiable risk factor — antibiotic use — by examining electronic health records of 65,000 children seen in primary care practices between 2001 and 2013.

By age 24 months, 69% of children had received at least one systemic antibiotic course (average 2.3 courses); narrow-spectrum antibiotics (penicillin or amoxicillin) and broad-spectrum antibiotics (all others) were taken at least once by 62% and 41% of patients, respectively. First recorded weight-for-length measures were similar between children exposed to antibiotics and those unexposed. By ages 24 to 59 months, overall obesity prevalence wa…