[Primary exogenous obesity].
A group of 214 obese children were studied (108 males and 106 females) with ages between 5 and 14 years. The average weight of our patients at birth was 3.17 +/- 0.5 Kgs. In babies with birth weight above 2.5 Kgs., obesity began frequently before the first year of life. No relationship was found between birth weight and intensity of obesity. It was significant that 111 children (51.87%) began their obesity during their first year of life and only 2 (0.93%) did it after the age of 11 years. A close relationship was observed between severeness of obesity and the onset of it during the first years of life. One or both parents were obese in 88.3% of our patients. In 31.87% of cases, there was a familial history of diabetes mellitus and in 31.31% a history of obesity was added. The characteristics of our patients are compared with reports from other authors and the importance of the knowledge of familial antecedents is emphasized together with the course of the disturbance in the child during the first years of life with an outlook to prevent and treat this malady.