Abstract
Objectives: To establish BMI percentiles and cutoffs for underweight, overweight, and obesity in South Korean schoolgirls. Research Methods and Procedures: A total of 1229 South Korean schoolgirls aged 8 to 18 years were randomly selected to complete a self-administered questionnaire. BMI charts and cutoffs were constructed after analyzing data from 1107 subjects. Percentile curves were established by the modified LMS method. Results: The percentiles for underweight, overweight, and obesity corresponding to BMF of 18.5. 23.0, and 25.0 kg/m2 at age 18 were the 13.0th percentile, the 77.8th percentile. and the 91.2nd percentile, respectively. The corresponding prevalences of underweight, overweight, and obesity were 12.1, 12.5. and 9.8%, respectively. Discussion: We established for the first time, to our knowledge, new BMI cutoffs for ages 8 to 18 that corresponded to BMIs of 18.5, 23.0, and 25.0 kg/nr for Asian adults designated by the International Obesity Task Force. These newly established BMI cutoffs might help to estimate the prevalence of overweight and obesity in Asian children.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1510-1514 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Obesity Research |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2005 |
Keywords
- BMI
- Children
- Cutoff point
- Korea
- Prevalence