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Aim: To examine trends in all body mass index (BMI) groups in children from 1936 to 2011. Methods: We included 197 694 girls and 201 276 boys from the Copenhagen School Health Records Register, born between 1930 and 1996, with longitudinal weight and height measurements (6–14 years). Using International Obesity Task Force criteria, BMI was classified as underweight, normal‐weight, overweight and obesity. Sex‐ and age‐specific prevalences were calculated. Results: From the 1930s, the prevalence of underweight was stable until a small increase occurred from 1950 to 1970s, and thereafter it declined into the early 2000s. Using 7‐year‐olds as an example, underweight changed from 10% to 7% in girls and from 9% to 6% in boys during the study period. The prevalence of overweight plateaued from 1950 to 1970s and then steeply increased from 1970s onwards and in 1990–2000s 15% girls and 11% boys at 7 years had overweight. The prevalence of obesity particularly increased from 1980s onwards and in 1990–2000s 5% girls and 4% boys at 7 years had obesity. These trends slightly differed by age. Conclusion: Among Danish schoolchildren, the prevalence of underweight was greater than overweight until the 1980s and greater than obesity throughout the period. Thus, monitoring the prevalence of childhood underweight remains an important public health issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Breastfeeding improves cognitive ability in childhood, but the long-term impact on socioeconomic outcomes remains unknown. We examined associations between durations of predominant and any breastfeeding and educational attainment, income, and labor force participation in adulthood, and whether these varied by maternal education., Study Design: Prospective cohort study., Methods: We followed 84,255 individuals born 1959-1967 with prospectively collected information on breastfeeding duration and intensity from the Copenhagen Infant Health Nurse Records. Socioeconomic outcome information came from national registers (1980-2020). Linear and Poisson regression were used, and models were adjusted for prenatal and postnatal variables across three levels of maternal education., Results: Durations of being breastfed exhibited associations with all outcomes, with most being more pronounced among mothers with low education. Compared with infants breastfed <1 month, those breastfed ≥5 months had 0.68 (95% confidence interval: 0.60-0.76), 0.55 (0.45-0.65), and 0.65 (0.46-0.84) additional years of education for infants born to mothers with low, medium, or high education, respectively. Moreover, infants breastfed ≥5 months had 4047, 3713, and 1902 US$ higher annual incomes and were 23% less likely to be outside the labor force at age 50 years. These associations were stronger with longer breastfeeding durations and for predominant than any breastfeeding., Conclusions: Prolonged and higher breastfeeding intensity consistently exhibited dose-dependent associations with improved socioeconomic indicators in adulthood. Notably, these relationships were more pronounced among individuals whose mothers had lower educational attainment. Consequently, our findings suggest that breastfeeding may have a lasting positive influence on socioeconomic outcomes, particularly for the most disadvantaged infants., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)