Premium
Understanding body mass index classification of young children: The interaction with height in more and less stunted subpopulations in a common region: Experience from North West Syria
Author(s) -
Ghosh Shibani,
Solomons Noel W.,
AwHassan Aden,
Pellett Peter L.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.21.5.a710
Subject(s) - overweight , percentile , body mass index , medicine , obesity , demography , standard score , excess weight , pediatrics , statistics , mathematics , sociology
Objective: To examine the differential classification of children, using the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) and the CDC BMI reference standards for nutritional classification and assess any interaction of height‐for‐age Z‐scores (HAZ) with BMI. Methods: We measured Ht and Wt in 203 urban and 355 rural children, aged 3 to 9 y, from North West Syria, assigning the categorical BMI classifications of the CDC and IOTF, as well as CDC HAZ scores. Results: 39.9% of urban children were classified beyond the 85 th percentile (21.7% risk of overweight, 18.2% overweight) by the CDC classification, whereas 29.6% had excess weight as categorized by the IOTF standard (21.7% overweight and 7.9% obese). For rural children, differential classification by standard become more evident, with 11.8% with excess weight (10.1% at risk and 1.7% overweight) using the CDC and 6.5% with excess weight (6.2% overweight and 0.3% obese) using the IOTF BMI charts, respectively. The interaction between HAZ and BMI Z‐score is positive in the combined sample (r 2 =0.198 p=0.01). Conclusion: In children, different BMI standards differ in diagnostic classification, but converge in biological analysis.