Body Mass Index reference curves for children aged 3–19 years from Verona, Italy

Abstract

Objective: To compile curves for Body Mass Index (BMI) for Italian children and adolescents. Design: Cross sectional study. Setting: All primary and secondary schools of Verona, Italy between October 1986 and January 1987. Subjects: 20 796 males and 21 073 females children, aged 3-19 y. Methods: Weight and height were measured using Salus balances, and age in days was calculated between the date of measurement and that of birth: centiles of BMI by age were calculated by the LMS method of Cole (1990). Results: The centiles obtained were similar to those obtained in UK by Cole et al, 1995. Compared to Cachera's data for France and Hammer's for USA, our BMI values are higher, though closer to the American than the French ones.

Body mass index percentiles for children and adolescents in Germany based on a nationally representative sample (KiGGS 2003–2006)

“…Reference values from national studies have been developed in some countries (Rolland-Cachera et al, 1991;Must et al, 1991a;Cole et al, 1995;Lindgren et al, 1995;Luciano et al, 1997;Cacciari et al, 2002;Moreno et al, 2006;Del-Rio-Navarro et al, 2007). In Germany, for example, national reference values for BMI in children are based on the best available data at the time (1985)(1986)(1987)(1988)(1989)(1990)(1991)(1992)(1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999).…”

Standardized percentile curves of body mass index of Iranian children compared to the US population reference

“…3 Body composition can be assessed by either elaborate methods such as measurements of body density using underwater weighing, estimation of lean body mass using deuterium distribution, DEXA (dual energy X-ray absortiometry), etc, or anthropometry. The methods generally used for estimating adiposity have high precision, but are expensive, 4 and are inferred from studies largely involving adults. These methods are technically dif®-cult to apply to children and are impractical in most clinical settings.…”

“…5 Therefore indirect methods, such as skinfold thickness and weight-for-height indices, are often used as proxy measures of adiposity or as criteria for de®ning underweight and overweight. 4 The mody mass index (BMI weightaheight 2 ) has been recommended to be used routinely to evaluate obesity in children and adolescents. 3,6 BMI reference data have been published only for children in developed countries such as North America, 3,5,7,8 France, 9 Britain, 10 Sweden, 11 Italy, 4 and Germany.…”

“…4 The mody mass index (BMI weightaheight 2 ) has been recommended to be used routinely to evaluate obesity in children and adolescents. 3,6 BMI reference data have been published only for children in developed countries such as North America, 3,5,7,8 France, 9 Britain, 10 Sweden, 11 Italy, 4 and Germany. 12 However, for any anthropometric indices to be meaningful in the pediatric age group, there must be standards de®ned by age and sex, based on local data as advocated by Hammer et al 5 Currently there are no reference data for assessment of thinness and obesity based on local norms available in Iran.…”

Low body weight and its association with bone health and pubertal maturation in Chinese girls

“…They defined under-nutrition as age-and gender-specific BMI less than the 5th percentile of American adolescents between 1971 and 1974, as recommended by WHO Expert Committee (1995). However, the WHO-recommended BMI cut-off might not be applicable to Asian children and adolescents, given differences in race and socio-economic conditions (Chang et al, 1994;Daniels et al, 1997;Luciano et al, 1997;Schaefer et al, 1998;De Onis et al, 2001). Furthermore, no evidence of impaired health was provided to support the selection of BMI 5th percentile as the cut-off between under-nutrition and acceptable nutrition in the report by Wang et al (1998).…”