PMID- 15788355
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20051208
LR  - 20221207
IS  - 0301-4460 (Print)
IS  - 0301-4460 (Linking)
VI  - 32
IP  - 1
DP  - 2005 Jan-Feb
TI  - Validity of BMI as a measure of obesity in Australian white Caucasian and 
      Australian Sri Lankan children.
PG  - 60-71
AB  - BACKGROUND: Body mass index (BMI) is used to diagnose obesity. However, its 
      ability to predict the percentage fat mass (%FM) reliably is doubtful. Therefore 
      validity of BMI as a diagnostic tool of obesity is questioned. AIM: This study is 
      focused on determining the ability of BMI-based cut-off values in diagnosing 
      obesity among Australian children of white Caucasian and Sri Lankan origin. 
      SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Height and weight was measured and BMI (W/H2) calculated. 
      Total body water was determined by deuterium dilution technique and fat free mass 
      and hence fat mass derived using age- and gender-specific constants. A %FM of 30% 
      for girls and 20% for boys was considered as the criterion cut-off level for 
      obesity. BMI-based obesity cut-offs described by the International Obesity Task 
      Force (IOTF), CDC/NCHS centile charts and BMI-Z were validated against the 
      criterion method. RESULTS: There were 96 white Caucasian and 42 Sri Lankan 
      children. Of the white Caucasians, 19 (36%) girls and 29 (66%) boys, and of the 
      Sri Lankans 7 (46%) girls and 16 (63%) boys, were obese based on %FM. The FM and 
      BMI were closely associated in both Caucasians (r=0.81, P<0.001) and Sri Lankans 
      (r=0.92, P<0.001). Percentage FM and BMI also had a lower but significant 
      association. Obesity cut-off values recommended by IOTF failed to detect a single 
      case of obesity in either group. However, NCHS and BMI-Z cut-offs detected cases 
      of obesity with low sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS: BMI is a poor indicator of 
      percentage fat and the commonly used cut-off values were not sensitive enough to 
      detect cases of childhood obesity in this study. In order to improve the 
      diagnosis of obesity, either BMI cut-off values should be revised to increase the 
      sensitivity or the possibility of using other indirect methods of estimating the 
      %FM should be explored.
FAU - Wickramasinghe, V P
AU  - Wickramasinghe VP
AD  - Children's Nutrition Research Centre, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, 
      University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
FAU - Cleghorn, G J
AU  - Cleghorn GJ
FAU - Edmiston, K A
AU  - Edmiston KA
FAU - Murphy, A J
AU  - Murphy AJ
FAU - Abbott, R A
AU  - Abbott RA
FAU - Davies, P S W
AU  - Davies PS
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PL  - England
TA  - Ann Hum Biol
JT  - Annals of human biology
JID - 0404024
RN  - 0 (Biomarkers)
SB  - IM
MH  - Adolescent
MH  - Algorithms
MH  - Australia
MH  - Biomarkers
MH  - Body Height
MH  - *Body Mass Index
MH  - Body Weight
MH  - Child
MH  - Child, Preschool
MH  - Female
MH  - Humans
MH  - Male
MH  - Obesity/*diagnosis/ethnology
MH  - Sensitivity and Specificity
MH  - Sri Lanka
MH  - White People
EDAT- 2005/03/25 09:00
MHDA- 2005/12/13 09:00
CRDT- 2005/03/25 09:00
PHST- 2005/03/25 09:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2005/12/13 09:00 [medline]
PHST- 2005/03/25 09:00 [entrez]
AID - M7YHQ0MP7KNVB3PU [pii]
AID - 10.1080/03014460400027805 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Ann Hum Biol. 2005 Jan-Feb;32(1):60-71. doi: 10.1080/03014460400027805.