Infants before the age of 24 months exposed to recurring broad-spectrum antibiotics have higher probability to be obese in their early childhood, according to a new study.

Antibiotics must be used cautiously especially for infants and pregnant mothers. A new research conducted and published online on September 29 in JAMA Pediatrics by L. Charles Bailey, M.D., Ph.D., of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, revealed that the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics like amoxicillin or tetracycline in infants under 24 months has been associated with greater risk of obesity in early childhood.

Dr. Bailey and his colleagues utilized electronic health records of 64, 580 children from 2001 to 2013 from a group of primary care clinics.  They collected the records of children with annual visits from 0 to 23 months and those with one or more visits of children of 24 to 59 months old.

Result of the study showed that increased antibiotics exposure is associated with risk in developing obesity for children with four or more exposure to broad-spectrum antibiotics (Used to treat various classes of bacteria) or all antibiotics.  The occurrence of obesity and overweight shows that 10 percent of the children were obese and 23 percent were overweight at age 2, 14 percent were obese and 30 percent were overweight at age 3 and 15 percent were obese while 33 percent were overweight at age 4.

Obesity may be influenced by many factors and lowering its prevalence can be done by classifying and managing the risk factors, Dr. Bailey reports. "Our results suggest that the use of broad-spectrum outpatient antibiotics before age 24 months may be one such factor."