Accuracy of the Who's Body Mass Index Cut-Off Points to Measure Gender- and Age-Specific Obesity in Middle-Aged Adults Living in the City of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Abstract

Introduction.Obesity is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a disease characterized by the excessive accumulation of body fat. Obesity is considered a public health problem, leading to serious social, psychological and physical problems. However, the appropriate cut-off point of body mass index (BMI) based on body fat percentage (BF%) for classifying an individual as obese in middle-aged adults living in Rio de Janeiro remains unclear.Materials and methods.This was a prospective cross-sectional study comprising of 856 adults (413 men and 443 women) living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil ranging from 30-59 years of age. The data were collected over a two year period (2010-2011), and all participants were underwent anthropometric evaluation. The gold standard was the percentage of body fat estimated by bioelectrical impedance analysis. The optimal sensitivity and specificity were attained by adjusting BMI cut-off values to predict obesity based on the WHO criteria: BF% >25% in men and >35% in women, according to the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis adjusted for age and for the whole group.Results.The BMI cut-offs for predicting BF% were 29.9 kg/m2 in men and 24.9 kg/m2 in women.ConclusionsThe BMI that corresponded to a BF% previously defining obesity was similar to that of other Western populations for men but not for women. Furthermore, gender and age specific cut-off values are recommended in this population.Significance for public healthWorld Health Organization (WHO) defines obesity as a disease characterized by the excessive accumulation of body fat. Obesity is considered a public health problem, leading to serious social, psychological and physical problems. The WHO suggested cut-off point for obesity is a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m2, which is associated with morbidity and mortality. An important issue in the debate over measuring obesity concerns the use of BMI to define obesity across different populations. However, it is not clear, what is an appropriate cut-off point of BMI based on body fat percentage (BF%) to classify an individual as obese within gender-age groups and to distinguish categories of BF% in middle-aged adults living in the city of Rio de Janeiro.

Body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio misclassification of overweight and obesity in Chinese military personnel

“…Previous studies use BFP as gold standard to estimate accuracy of obesity variables to measure obesity status [ 36 – 38 ]. So, in this study, BFP was set as referenced standard of defining obesity to evaluate the accuracy of BMI and WHR indexes to distinguish obesity status in Chinese military personnel and healthy controls.…”

Air Pollution as a Cause of Obesity: Micro-Level Evidence from Chinese Cities

“…Obesity is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a disease characterized by the excessive accumulation of body fat [13]. In 2019, the WHO listed air pollution and obesity among the top ten threats to human health [14].…”

Associação entre os indicadores antropométricos e a gordura corporal relativa em homens estudantes da Universidade Federal do Amapá, AP

“…Têm sido mostradas altas correlações entre a gordura corporal relativa e as variáveis antropométricas (PONGCHAIYAKUL et al, 2005;LEAN;HAN;DEURENBERG, 1996;WESTSTRATE;SEI-DELL, 1991), de forma que o poder de predição da gordura corporal relativa a partir dessas variáveis tende a ser muito alto (MATERKO;SANTOS, 2010). No presente estudo, só a CA resultou em moderada (r = 0,73) correlação com a gordura corporal relativa, similar ao estudo de Já a CC é uma variável bastante estudada para avaliar o risco coronariano (LEE et al, 2006), além de apresentar boa correlação (r = 0,81-0,88) com a gordura corporal relativa (DEURENBERG; WESTSTRATE; SEI-DELL, 1991).…”

“…Atualmente, o índice de massa corporal (IMC) é expresso como a razão entre a massa corporal em quilogramas e a estatura do indivíduo em metros (KEYS et al, 2014), constitui a ferramenta mais utilizada para o diagnóstico quantitativo da obesidade, devido a sua simplicidade e boa correlação (GROSSL; DE LIMA; KARASIAK, 2010) com a adiposidade corporal, confirmando o resultado do presente estudo (r = 0,70), que mostrou uma boa relação entre o IMC e a gordura corporal relativa, fazendo com que reafirme este indicador como um dos mais fáceis e práticos indicadores antropométricos na predição da gordura corporal relativa (MATERKO; SANTOS, 2010; DEURENBERG; WESTSTRATE; SEIDELL, 1991) e sendo um bom indicativo de ponto de corte baseado na gordura corporal relativa na classificação de indivíduos obesos (MATERKO et al, 2017;MATERKO;SANTOS, 2017).…”