scholarly journals Anthropometric indicators associated with childhood obesity. Is it time for a BMI successor?

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 134-147
Author(s):  
Teresa Walczyk

Childhood obesity and overweight have a wide impact on physical and mental health, and affect adulthood. In the last decade, scientists have been looking with concern at the increasingly frequent excess body weight in children and adolescents. Therefore, it is crucial to estimate the scale of the problem, and thus to correctly assess the level of adipose tissue. In assessing the nutritional status of the young, anthropometric measurements and indicators are used. Despite the widespread use of BMI (body mass index), this indicator is often criticized. BMI is frequently recognized as an imprecise tool and its use often results in misleading classification. Therefore, the aim of this study is to present selected, non-invasive anthropometric indicators related to overweight/obesity in children.Anthropometric indicators are relatively simple tools used in public health. However, the search for a simple and useful indicator is still ongoing, which will enable the assessment of the nutritional status both in clinical practice and in population studies. The paper presents the most frequently described anthropometric indicators in the literature: body mass index (BMI) and BMIz score, relative fat mass pediatric (RFMp), tri-ponderal mass index (TMI), pediatric body adiposity fat index (BAIp) and the mid-upper arm circumference (MUCA). The possibilities of application and their effectiveness for the estimation of adipose tissue content and the risk of coexisting diseases are presented.Although there is no consensus on the best tool, it is known that BMI will remain the main parameter in assessing nutritional status. Nevertheless, the authors suggest the usefulness of tools such as RFMp, TMI and MUAC as a good complement to the imperfections ascribed to BMI.

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-59
Author(s):  
Pawana Kayastha ◽  
Binit Vaidya ◽  
Dipesh Shakya

Background: World Health Organization defines childhood obesity as “one of the most serious public health challenges”. Low income countries like Nepal experience a burden of infectious diseases as well as rising incidence of noncommunicable diseases frequently associated with obesity. There is paucity of information on childhood obesity in Nepal. Objectives: This study aims to determine the prevalence of childhood obesity and overweight in school going children and find its association with blood pressure.Methodology: A school based cross-sectional analytical study was conducted on 509 children aged between 10-16 years, studying in grade 5-10 of private schools in Kathmandu and Bhaktapur. Simple random sampling technique was used for data collection. Anthropometric measurements and blood pressure were taken using standard protocol. Obesity was assessed using Body Mass Index criteria.Results: The overall prevalence of obesity and overweight in children were found to be 1.6% and 6.1% respectively. This study also showed that prevalence of obesity in children from Kathmandu is comparatively more, which was statistically significant (p<0.001). A highly significant relationship was observed for diastolic blood pressure and Body Mass Index (p<0.001) between the two groups.Conclusion: This study concludes that obesity though small in percentage, was found in rising trend when compared with previous data. Also, there was strong association with blood pressure, so timely identification and control of obesity is required for prevention of development of other cardiovascular comorbidities.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Subal Das ◽  
Kaushik Bose

A community-based cross-sectional study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of undernutrition using body mass index (BMI) among 2–6-year Santal preschool children of Purulia District, West Bengal, India. A total of 251 (116 boys and 135 girls) children from 12 villages were measured. Commonly used indicators, that is, weight, height, and BMI, were used to evaluate the nutritional status. More boys (59.5%) than girls (53.3%), based on BMI, were undernourished. Significant age differences in weight (F=44.29∗∗∗; df=3), height (F=58.48∗∗∗; df=3), and BMI (F=3.52∗∗∗; df=3) among boys were observed. Similarly, significant differences between ages in mean weight (F=56.27∗∗∗; df=3), height (F=64.76∗∗∗; df=3), and BMI (F=2.62∗∗∗; df=3) were observed among the girls. The present study revealed that the nutritional status of the preschool children of Santal tribal community of these villages was poor with very high rate of thinness in boys and girls (59.5% and 53.3%, resp.).


2010 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 348-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Flávia Andréia Marin ◽  
Vânia Cristina Lamônica-Garcia ◽  
Maria Aparecida Coelho de Arruda Henry ◽  
Roberto Carlos Burini

CONTEXT: Undernutrition is a well known underlying cause in both disease onset and outcome. OBJECTIVE: To associate disease severity with pre surgical nutritional status, the main postsurgical complications, and mortality in esophagus cancer patients. METHOD: Retrospective data from 100 patients (38-81 years old, 85% males) who had undergone esophagectomy (G1/n = 25) or gastro/jejunostomy (G2/n = 75) between 1995 and 2004. Data included clinical, endoscopic, histological (TNM-UICC), dietary, anthropometric, blood chemistry, and postsurgical (>30 days) complications and mortality. Surgical groups were compared by Student's test and existing associations between variables by either c² or Fisher exact tests with P = 0.05. RESULTS: The studied sample was predominantly male (85%), white (80%), smokers and alcoholics (95%), dysphagics (95%) mostly presenting body weight loss before cancer diagnosis (78%). TNM III and IV predominated over I and II, associated (P<0.005) with higher body mass index and hypoalbuminemia (<3.5 mg/dL) frequency. Esophagic obstructions (n = 77) were associated (P = 0.002) with lower body mass index (kg/m²). Postsurgical complications were more common in G1 (69.2%) than G2, predominantly with infections in G2 (80%) and pleura-pulmonary in G1 (61%). Body mass index and lower lymphocyte counts were associated with early infections and postsurgical complications in G2. Plasma albumin levels were lower in this group than G1, and were associated with postsurgical complications and mortality whereas lower lymphocyte counts was associated with mortality in G1. CONCLUSIONS: Disease severity (or late diagnosis) is associated with poor nutritional status and palliative surgery which lead to more complicated postsurgery outcome and mortality. Early diagnosis and nutritional intervention are the recommended actions.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document