Children who are overweight face more than future health problems. They appear to have broken bones and joint problems more often during childhood than kids of normal weight, research suggests.

“A lot of people think that if you’re an overweight kid … that later on in life you’re going to run into having heart disease or Type 2 diabetes,” the director of the obesity and eating disorders program at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Dr. Susan Yanovski, said.

“But kids and adults who are overweight are already having problems with their mobility, fractures, and joint pain.” A study led by her husband, obesity researcher Dr. Jack Yanovski, found that children and teens who were overweight were far more likely to have had a fracture than their ideal-weight peers. They also had more bone and hip joint abnormalities, which can lead to permanent deformities.

The research involved 227 overweight children and adolescents and 128 who weren’t overweight. The children had an average age of 12. All were enrolled in various federal health studies between 1996 and 2004 and were considered overweight if they were in the 95th percentile of weight and height for their age and sex.

A review of their medical history revealed that 13% of overweight kids had had at least one broken bone at some point in their lives, compared with less than 4% of ideal-weight children.

“The combination of musculoskeletal pain and poor mobility may possibly lead to less physical activity … and perpetuate the vicious cycle,” Dr. Yanovski, who heads the growth and obesity program at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, said.