Impact of using nationalv. international definitions of underweight, overweight and obesity: an example from Kuwait

Abstract

Caution should be exercised when using recently collected national reference data and definitions while assessing underweight, overweight and obesity for clinical and public health applications.

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

“…To our knowledge, no other study has compared the Fitnessgram or IOTF standards with the Hungarian national BMI standards, but some other comparisons using countryspecific BMI standards have shown similar disparities. For example, in a sample of Kuwaiti 10-to 14-year-olds, the Fitnessgram and IOTF criteria identified 44.9% and 44.7% of children as overweight/obese, respectively, while using Kuwaiti national reference standards resulted in that percentage dropping to 36.7% (El-Ghaziri, Boodai, Young, & Reilly, 2011). In contrast, in a 2011 study of U.S. and English 12-to 17-year-olds, using national standards from the United Kingdom resulted in the prevalence of overweight/obesity being 7% to 9% higher than estimates using Fitnessgram or IOTF standards (Lang et al, 2011).…”

High Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome among Kuwaiti Adults —A Wake-Up Call for Public Health Intervention

“…Three-quarters (75.6%) of Kuwaiti females and 70.1% of males were overweight (BMI ≥ 25.0 kg/m 2 ) or obese (BMI ≥ 30.0 kg/m 2 ). Obesity (both overall and abdominal) has been found to be a significant public health problem in Kuwait previously [4,6,31] and seems to be increasing [3,9] among all segments of the Kuwaiti population, especially among females, where 55% are obese [3,9,10,11] and the problem seems to start in childhood and adolescence [8]. …”

“…The major difference between these definitions is the cut-points used for waist circumference. Currently, Kuwait has not yet developed accepted waist circumference or BMI cut-points for adults [31]. …”

Health related quality of life of obese adolescents in Kuwait

“…Obesity was defined as BMI ≥ 95 th centile, overweight as BMI of ≥ 85 th centile and <95 th centile, healthy weight was defined as BMI ≥ 3 rd centile and < 85 th centile. The US BMI reference data were used in the present study because the absolute BMI values at standard Kuwaiti centiles are extremely high [20], as the Kuwaiti BMI reference was constructed after the obesity epidemic had affected Kuwait [21]. The total number of pupils who did not fulfill the inclusion criteria and/or did not consent was 542, 224 males and 318 females, leaving 500 eligible consenting participants, 318 boys and 182 girls.…”