TY - JOUR
T1 - Concordance of obesity classification between body mass index and percent body fat among school children in Saudi Arabia
AU - Al-Mohaimeed, Abdulrahman
AU - Ahmed, Saifuddin
AU - Dandash, Khadiga
AU - Ismail, Mohammed Saleh
AU - Saquib, Nazmus
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by a research grant from the Deanship of Research, Qassim University, Saudi Arabia. We thank Juliann Saquib for the editorial assistance to the manuscript preparation.
Publisher Copyright:
© Al-Mohaimeed et al.
PY - 2015/3/5
Y1 - 2015/3/5
N2 - Background: In Saudi Arabia, where childhood obesity is a major public health issue, it is important to identify the best tool for obesity classification. Hence, we compared two field methods for their usefulness in epidemiological studies. Methods: The sample consisted of 874 primary school (grade I-IV) children, aged 6-10 years, and was obtained through a multi-stage random sampling procedure. Weight and height were measured, and BMI (kg/m2) was calculated. Percent body fat was determined with a Futrex analyzer that uses near infrared reactance (NIR) technology. Method specific cut-off values were used for obesity classification. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were determined for BMI, and the agreement between BMI and percent body fat was calculated. Results: Compared to boys, the mean BMI was higher in girls whereas the mean percent body fat was lower (p-values <0.0001). According to BMI, the prevalence of overweight or obesity was significantly higher in girls (34.3% vs. 17.3%); as oppose to percent body fat, which was similar between the sexes (6.6% vs. 7.0%). The sensitivity of BMI to classify overweight or obesity was high (boys =93%, girls = 100%); and its false-positive detection rate was also high (boys = 63%, girls = 81%). The agreement rate was low between these two methods (boys = 0.48, girls =0.24). Conclusions: There is poor agreement in obesity classification between BMI and percent body fat, using NIR method, among Saudi school children.
AB - Background: In Saudi Arabia, where childhood obesity is a major public health issue, it is important to identify the best tool for obesity classification. Hence, we compared two field methods for their usefulness in epidemiological studies. Methods: The sample consisted of 874 primary school (grade I-IV) children, aged 6-10 years, and was obtained through a multi-stage random sampling procedure. Weight and height were measured, and BMI (kg/m2) was calculated. Percent body fat was determined with a Futrex analyzer that uses near infrared reactance (NIR) technology. Method specific cut-off values were used for obesity classification. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were determined for BMI, and the agreement between BMI and percent body fat was calculated. Results: Compared to boys, the mean BMI was higher in girls whereas the mean percent body fat was lower (p-values <0.0001). According to BMI, the prevalence of overweight or obesity was significantly higher in girls (34.3% vs. 17.3%); as oppose to percent body fat, which was similar between the sexes (6.6% vs. 7.0%). The sensitivity of BMI to classify overweight or obesity was high (boys =93%, girls = 100%); and its false-positive detection rate was also high (boys = 63%, girls = 81%). The agreement rate was low between these two methods (boys = 0.48, girls =0.24). Conclusions: There is poor agreement in obesity classification between BMI and percent body fat, using NIR method, among Saudi school children.
KW - Anthropometry
KW - BMI
KW - Body mass index
KW - Children
KW - NIR
KW - Near infrared reactance
KW - Obesity
KW - Percent body fat
KW - Saudi Arabia
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U2 - 10.1186/s12887-015-0335-6
DO - 10.1186/s12887-015-0335-6
M3 - Article
C2 - 25879922
AN - SCOPUS:84924914228
SN - 1471-2431
VL - 15
JO - BMC Pediatrics
JF - BMC Pediatrics
IS - 1
M1 - 16
ER -