1PhD Senior Research Fellow, Lady Irwin College, University of Delhi
2Associate Professor, Lady Irwin College, University of Delhi
3Assistant Professor, Lady Irwin College, University of Delhi
*Corresponding author: Deepika Bahl: PhD Senior Research Fellow, Lady Irwin College, University of Delhi 110001. Email Id: bahl.deepa@gmail.com
Online published on 4 July, 2016.
Obesity has become a serious public health problem. Accurate measurement of this health issue is crucial in defining its burden. Thus the objective of the study was to compare the body mass index (BMI) classification systems for World Health Organization (WHO), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) prevalence estimation of overweight and obesity and in terms of level of agreement between the classification systems.
In a cross sectional survey, 877 school going adolescents of age 12 to 15 years (mean = 13.04 years) were included in the study. Height and weight of subjects were measured to calculate the BMI. Subjects were classified as overweight and obese according to IOTF, CDC, and WHO criteria and Kappa statistics was used to calculate the level of agreement between the three classification systems.
Prevalence estimates of combined overweight and obesity differed by system (males WHO = 33.16%, CDC=29.78%, IOTF=28.55%; females WHO = 33.54%, CDC=29.71%, IOTF = 29.39%). A substantial agreement was observed between CDC vs IOTF and WHO vs CDC (Kappa=0.82) and a moderate agreement between WHO vs IOTF (kappa=0.70).
IOTF is a frequently used system for BMI classification of children and adolescents in India but it reports the lowest combined prevalence in comparison to CDC and WHO. Although the agreement between CDC vs IOTF and WHO vs CDC is substantial but the system which is most suitable to a country like India is WHO, 2007 since the sample includes children from India among other countries.
Adolescents, Body Mass Index (BMI), Obesity, Overweight, Growth reference
