PMID- 12917720
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20031020
LR  - 20220330
VI  - 27
IP  - 9
DP  - 2003 Sep
TI  - Screening for childhood obesity: international vs population-specific 
      definitions. Which is more appropriate?
PG  - 1121-6
AB  - AIM: The objectives of this study are: (1) to study the relation between body 
      mass index (BMI), percentage-weight-for-height (PWH) and percentage body fat 
      (PBF) in Singaporean Chinese children; (2) to assess the applicability of an 
      international definition of obesity (the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) 
      BMI) as a screening tool to detect childhood obesity, as compared with the 
      current Singapore population-specific definition using PWH. METHODS: A total of 
      623 Chinese children aged 6-11 y (321 males, 302 females) were recruited from a 
      school by proportionate (40%) stratified random sampling. BMI and PWH were 
      calculated from weight and height, while PBF was derived using leg-to-leg 
      bioelectrical impedance analysis. The strength of association among the three 
      indices of obesity was assessed using Spearman's correlation coefficient. Obese 
      children were defined as those above the 95th percentile of PBF in each 
      age-gender-specific group. Sensitivity and specificity of IOTF-BMI cutoff values 
      and PWH cutoff values were compared by testing their ability to correctly 
      identify obese children. RESULTS: All three indices correlated well with one 
      another (BMI:PWH r=0.83, BMI:PBF r=0.87, PWH:PBF r=0.76). Prevalence of obesity 
      was lower using IOTF-BMI cutoffs (6.9%) than using PWH cutoffs (16.4%). The 
      sensitivity and specificity of IOTF-BMI cutoff values were 75.0 and 96.0%, 
      respectively, with sensitivity differing between boys (83.3%) and girls (66.6%) 
      (P=0.35). In comparison, PWH cutoff values had higher sensitivity (91.6%) but 
      lower specificity (86.6%), with no significant difference between the genders. 
      CONCLUSION: IOTF-recommended BMI cutoff values had low sensitivity and may 
      underestimate the local prevalence of childhood obesity. For screening purposes, 
      we recommend that population-specific measures rather than international cutoff 
      values be used.
FAU - Fu, W P C
AU  - Fu WP
AD  - Faculty of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore. 
      crosanz@singnet.com.sg
FAU - Lee, H C
AU  - Lee HC
FAU - Ng, C J
AU  - Ng CJ
FAU - Tay, Y-K D
AU  - Tay YK
FAU - Kau, C Y
AU  - Kau CY
FAU - Seow, C J
AU  - Seow CJ
FAU - Siak, J K
AU  - Siak JK
FAU - Hong, C Y
AU  - Hong CY
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
PL  - England
TA  - Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord
JT  - International journal of obesity and related metabolic disorders : journal of the 
      International Association for the Study of Obesity
JID - 9313169
SB  - IM
MH  - Adipose Tissue
MH  - Body Composition
MH  - Body Height
MH  - Body Mass Index
MH  - Body Weight
MH  - Child
MH  - China/ethnology
MH  - Electric Impedance
MH  - Female
MH  - Humans
MH  - Male
MH  - Mass Screening/*methods
MH  - Obesity/*epidemiology
MH  - Prevalence
MH  - Sensitivity and Specificity
MH  - Singapore/epidemiology
EDAT- 2003/08/15 05:00
MHDA- 2003/10/21 05:00
CRDT- 2003/08/15 05:00
PHST- 2003/08/15 05:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2003/10/21 05:00 [medline]
PHST- 2003/08/15 05:00 [entrez]
AID - 0802385 [pii]
AID - 10.1038/sj.ijo.0802385 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2003 Sep;27(9):1121-6. doi: 
      10.1038/sj.ijo.0802385.