Juvenile obesity in terms of various evaluation methods

Abstract

Introduction: Obesity is a civilization disease of the 21 st century. The prevalence of obesity and overweight among children and adolescents is constantly increasing. BMI (body mass index) and WHR (waist to hip ratio) are methods of obesity assessment recommended by the WHO. Also, the WtHR (waist to height ratio), which takes into account height, is one of the most popular methods of diagnosing childhood obesity. A more recent diagnostic indicator is the FMI (fat mass index), which considers the percentage of the patient's body fat. The aim of the study was to compare the methods of assessing obesity in children and adolescents using the following indicators: BMI, WHR, WtHR, and FMI and to determine the consistency of the results obtained with them. Material and methods:The study included 195 children aged 11-18 years, from whom the following data were collected: height, weight, waist circumference, and percentage of body fat. The calculated indices (BMI, WHR, WtHR, FMI), expressed in SDS, were compared using the Bland-Altman test, Passing-Bablok regression, and the slope chart. Results: The fewest diagnoses of obesity were shown by FMI SDS (15.9%) and the highest by WHR SDS (28.7%). WHR SDS showed the least consistent results with BMI SDS. Significant statistical differences were found between BMI SDS and both FMI SDS and WtHR SDS. Conclusions: BMI, as the most acceptable obesity indicator, can be used as a screening method for assessing obesity. However, patients with boundary BMI values should be examined more precisely, using more than one index. FMI is recommended.

Triglyceride glucose index, pediatric NAFLD fibrosis index, and triglyceride-to-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio are the most predictive markers of the metabolically unhealthy phenotype in overweight/obese adolescent boys

“…It is important to note that in the IDF criteria of MetS, WC>90th percentile is used as a marker of abdominal obesity, not BMI ( 8 ). Therefore, alternative screening tests to assess obesity in childhood and adolescence have been suggested as being superior to BMI in predicting CVD risks such as waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) ( 10 , 35 , 36 , 56 ). The WHR as a marker of abdominal obesity was approved by WHO for adults without age restrictions and with high sensitivity in young people ( 35 ).…”

“…The cutoff value, which is age and gender independent, is above 0.5 ( 36 ). The debate is still ongoing on whether WHR and WHtR are criteria for obesity in general or abdominal obesity as a separate type ( 56 ). The results of our study showed that WHtR and WHR are significantly higher in subjects with MUO and MetS than in those with MHO and the control group, which might indicate a higher risk of CVD as it was recognized in other studies ( 10 , 53 , 57 ).…”