Three limitations of the body mass index

Garn, Stanley M.; Leonard, William R.; Hawthorne, Victor M.

doi:10.1093/ajcn/44.6.996

Cited by 432 publications

(275 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…BMI is known to be influenced by the relative proportions of trunk to limb size and by the amount of lean tissue, especially in young children. 30 In comparisons with measures of body fat obtained by DXA, BMI previously has been reported to be more accurate in fatter than leaner children. 15 The results from the present study showed a 9 BMI also has been shown to be a less accurate predictor of degree of fatness in lean adolescent females 31 where the correlation between BMI and %BF DXA (r ¼ 0.67, P ¼ 0.0001) was very similar to that obtained in the lean adolescents of our study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of body fatness measurements by BMI and skinfolds vs dual energy X-ray absorptiometry and their relation to cardiovascular risk factors in adolescents

et al. 2005

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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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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of body fatness measurements by BMI and skinfolds vs dual energy X-ray absorptiometry and their relation to cardiovascular risk factors in adolescents

et al. 2005

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“…Although age and gender are the primary criteria used to assess the anthropometric measurements of particular children, evaluation of weight with reference to LH (WLH), instead of age (weight for age) is proposed to make a significant contribution in diagnosing FTT in infancy and early childhood (2,3,4,5). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In spite of the fact that LH is a denominator in the calculation of BMI, age-adjusted BMI calculation may not be specific for the discrimination of lean or body fat mass (2,3,4,5). Stature-dependent BMI in different periods has the potential for variation by the relative leg length and sitting height to different directions (4,12).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Stature-dependent BMI in different periods has the potential for variation by the relative leg length and sitting height to different directions (4,12). Therefore, screening growth and nutrition together with WLH may provide additional reliable information in early childhood.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the assessment of nutritional status, it should be remembered that LH loss is significantly less than weight loss (6% vs. 31%, respectively) particularly in the early stages of undernutrition (2,3). WLH provides the weight spectrum for a specific length segment (4,5). Therefore, the use of BMI as the key index for nutritional evaluation may not be as satisfactory in children under two years of age as it is in older children and adults (6).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Weight for Length/Height Percentiles in Infants and Young Children in Kayseri/Turkey

Mazıcıoğlu¹,

Demirtaş²,

Çcek³

et al. 2013

JCRPE

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Objective: To produce weight for length/height (WLH) percentiles to be used for the screening of growth and assessment of failure to thrive in infancy and early childhood.Methods: The data (2009-2010) of the Anthropometry of Turkish Children aged 0-6 years (ATCA-06) study were used. A cross-sectional study was designed to calculate the WLH references. Reference weight values for each 5-cm LH intervals were determined using the LMS Chart Maker Pro version 2.3 software program (The Institute of Child Health, London).Results: A total of 3123 children (1573 female, 1550 male) aged 0-6 years were included in the calculation of the 3rd, 5th, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 85th, 90th, 95th, and 97th WLH percentiles. The difference between the 3rd and the 97th percentiles for males was 2.02 cm to 12.64 cm in the 50-54.99 cm and 125-130 cm LH ranges. In the girls, the differences between the 3rd-97th percentiles ranged from 2.02 cm to 12.64 cm in the 50-54.99 cm and 125-130 cm LH groups. The maximum difference between the 3rd and 97th percentiles was about half the variation of mean WLH throughout the first six years of life. The most rapid change in WLH was observed in the 0-2-year period. Turkish references for WLH were not different from the World Health Organization standards.Conclusions: This is the first study in Turkey presenting WLH references in 0-6 year old children. We suggest that the use of WLH in the first two years of life may be more useful than age-adjusted references in assessment of nutritional status and diagnosis of failure to thrive. Conflict of interest:None declared.

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The Cost-effectiveness of Programs to Prevent or Reduce Obesity

Cawley¹

2007

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med

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Three limitations of the body mass index

Cited by 432 publications

References 3 publications

Comparison of body fatness measurements by BMI and skinfolds vs dual energy X-ray absorptiometry and their relation to cardiovascular risk factors in adolescents

Comparison of body fatness measurements by BMI and skinfolds vs dual energy X-ray absorptiometry and their relation to cardiovascular risk factors in adolescents

Weight for Length/Height Percentiles in Infants and Young Children in Kayseri/Turkey

The Cost-effectiveness of Programs to Prevent or Reduce Obesity

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