Early Childhood BMI Trajectories and Weight Status Lability: Leveraging ECHO’s Longitudinal Data to Identify Critical Developmental Patterns

Key Takeaways: Dr. Liu will present findings from three studies using data from thousands of children in the ECHO cohort to examine early childhood BMI development and its implications for future health risks.

• Distinct BMI Trajectory Patterns: About 10% of children show rapid increases in BMI starting at age 3.5, reaching an average BMI exceeding the 99th percentile by age 9.
• BMI Z-score Lability: This new risk indicator highlights factors like breastfeeding and neighborhood resources that influence weight status fluctuations.
• Developmental outcomes: The third study explored how early BMI z-score lability patterns predict developmental outcomes in middle childhood.

These findings provide new insights into early childhood development and potential intervention opportunities.

Chang Liu, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology

Washington State University

Co-I of ECHO Cohorts 12101/12102/12103

Speaker Biography:

Dr. Chang Liu, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Washington State University studies how developmental processes and mechanisms shape resilience vs. maladjustment in children and mothers. Her work integrates multiple levels of analysis, including prenatal adversities, genetic influences, and early parental. This has led to three lines of social-emotional development research focused on children’s regulation vs. maladjustment: characterizing dynamic change and how parents and children co-regulate emotions, the relationship between genes, pre- and post- natal environment influences, and the impact of different contexts of development on risk and resilience in children and mothers. Recently she began examining childhood obesity, using innovative longitudinal methodologies and concepts like body mass index (BMI) z-score lability.

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