Age, sex and ethnic differences in the prevalence of underweight and overweight, defined by using the CDC and IOTF cut points in Asian children

Abstract

Background: No nationally representative data from middle-and low-income countries have been analyzed to compare the prevalence of underweight and overweight, defined by using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the International Obesity TaskForce (IOTF) body mass index cut points. Objective: To examine the consistency in the prevalence of underweight and overweight, defined by using the CDC and IOTF cut points in Chinese, Indonesian and Vietnamese children. Methods: We used data from 1600 Chinese, 11 756 Indonesian and 53 826 Vietnamese children aged 2-18 years, who participated in three recent, representative surveys in China, Indonesia and Vietnam. A smaller difference between prevalence and a higher k-statistic indicated a higher consistency level. Results: The prevalence of underweight was higher with the IOTF than the CDC cut points; absolute differences in the Chinese, Indonesian and Vietnamese were 6, 10 and 13% (boys), and 10, 13 and 19% (girls), respectively. The prevalence of overweight was more consistent (absolute differences were o2%, except for the 2-5.9-year-old Chinese and Indonesian children (from 2 to o5%)). Values of k-statistic (from 0.55 to 0.88) varied by age, sex and ethnicity. The consistency was gradually improving from the Vietnamese to Indonesians and to Chinese boys and girls, from girls to boys, from the younger to older boys and from the older to younger girls. Conclusions: The age, sex and ethnic differences in the prevalence of underweight and overweight suggest a systematic evaluation of the cut points.

The double burden of overweight and thinness among children and adolescents in Shandong China

“…Although the prevalence of overweight and obesity is receiving considerable attention in terms of both policy and practice in China, however, our study suggests that thinness is also an important overlooked phenomenon. As suggested by findings of previous studies from other developing countries [7][8][9][10], our results indicated that China is facing the double burden of both thinness and overweight. Therefore, it is important not to forget the public health challenge posed by thinness.…”

Adiposity of Korean school‐age children measured by national and international growth charts

“…Previous researchers have indicated that because these growth charts were developed using different populations for different purposes, they use different cut‐offs for adiposity and thus yield different prevalences. This has been reported in countries such as Canada (Shields & Tremblay, 2010), China (Tuan & Nicklas, 2009), and Korea (Khang & Park, 2011).…”

Agreement and Diagnostic Performance of FITNESSGRAM®, International Obesity Task Force, and Hungarian National BMI Standards

“…Lang, Kipping, Jago, and Lawlor (2011) found a 1.2% to 1.4% difference between these two standards in overweight/obesity prevalence in 12-to 17-year-old U.S. and English adolescents. In a sample of Asian children, differences between absolute agreement of overweight/obesity prevalence using the IOTF and Fitnessgram standards were within 2% (Tuan & Nicklas, 2009). Like the aforementioned studies, the difference between the standards' combined prevalence of overweight/obesity was approximately 2%.…”