OBJECTIVE:To compare estimates of adiposity by dual emission X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), skinfolds and body mass index (BMI); and to evaluate the relation of these measures to cardiovascular risk in adolescents. DESIGN: In a cohort of adolescents participating in a longitudinal study of insulin resistance, Slaughter formulas were used to estimate adiposity from skinfolds and DXA was used to estimate adiposity as % body fat (%BF) and fat mass (FBM). BMI, blood pressure, lipids and insulin resistance were measured. SUBJECTS: Male and female, 11-17 y old (n ¼ 130). MEASUREMENTS: To compare DXA with two office-based methods of assessing fatness and cardiovascular risk. RESULTS: Slaughter estimates were highly correlated with DXA (%BF r ¼ 0.92, P ¼ 0.0001; FBM r ¼ 0.96, P ¼ 0.0001). Correlations were similar in heavy and thin children. BMI was also highly correlated with DXA (%BF r ¼ 0.85, P ¼ 0.0001; FBM r ¼ 0.95, P ¼ 0.0001), and these relations were stronger in heavy than thin children. BMI and the Slaughter formulas were similar to DXA in their relations to cardiovascular risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: Adiposity by BMI and Slaughter formulas are highly correlated with DXA and similarly related to cardiovascular risk factors. BMI is easy to obtain and is an acceptable method for initial office estimation of body fatness. BMI and skinfolds compare well with DXA in predicting adverse cardiovascular risk profile.

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Obesity is a complex disease influenced by many neurohormonal pathways which regulate body weight toward homeostasis. Presently, the disease of obesity effects over a billion individuals worldwide with scalable treatment options in dire need. Pharmacologic interventions for obesity have been developed to help promote weight loss in individuals with obesity. This area is rapidly developing and will only exponentially increase to serve the demand for persons with obesity seeking biologically orientated solutions to treat their disease. Therefore, understanding the cardiovascular risks and benefits of these weight loss medications is of particularly importance due to obesities strong association with cardiovascular (CV) disease risk. Moreover, past experiences with pharmacotherapy agents with weight loss properties have demonstrated an association with adverse CV outcomes, leading to market removal, in most cases and concerns over using similar medications. To better understand the CV risks and benefits pharmacotherapy agents used for weight loss, this review will discuss medications which are FDA-approved for weight loss, as well as medications commonly used off-label for this indication. The goal is to provide an overview of the risks and benefits many of these medications can offer to help guide clinical decision making and patient education.

The figure legend to Figure 1 of the above paper was published incorrectly.The correct legend is given below. The authors would like to apologise for this mistake.