Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Apr;91(4):1020-6.
doi: 10.3945/ajcn.2009.28589. Epub 2010 Feb 17.

High adiposity and high body mass index-for-age in US children and adolescents overall and by race-ethnic group

Katherine M Flegal  1 , Cynthia L Ogden, Jack A Yanovski, David S Freedman, John A Shepherd, Barry I Graubard, Lori G Borrud
Affiliations

High adiposity and high body mass index-for-age in US children and adolescents overall and by race-ethnic group

Katherine M Flegal et al. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 Apr.

Abstract

Background: Body mass index (BMI)-for-age has been recommended as a screening test for excess adiposity in children and adolescents.

Objective: We quantified the performance of standard categories of BMI-for-age relative to the population prevalence of high adiposity in children and adolescents overall and by race-ethnic group in a nationally representative US population sample by using definitions of high adiposity that are consistent with expert committee recommendations.

Design: Percentage body fat in 8821 children and adolescents aged 8-19 y was measured by using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in 1999-2004 as part of a health examination survey.

Results: With the use of several different cutoffs for percentage fat to define high adiposity, most children with high BMI-for-age (> or = 95th percentile of the growth charts) had high adiposity, and few children with normal BMI-for-age (<85th percentile) had high adiposity. The prevalence of high adiposity in intermediate BMI categories varied from 45% to 15% depending on the cutoff. The prevalence of a high BMI was significantly higher in non-Hispanic black girls than in non-Hispanic white girls, but the prevalence of high adiposity was not significantly different.

Conclusions: Current BMI cutoffs can identify a high prevalence of high adiposity in children with high BMI-for-age and a low prevalence of high adiposity in children with normal BMI-for-age. By these adiposity measures, less than one-half of children with intermediate BMIs-for-age (85th to <95th percentile) have high adiposity. Differences in high BMI ranges between race-ethnic groups do not necessarily indicate differences in high adiposity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Overall prevalence (%) of high adiposity within BMI categories by different percentile cutoffs for high adiposity.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Prevalence (%) of high BMI-for-age and high adiposity (≥80th percentile) by race-ethnic group in boys and girls. *Mexican Americans were significantly different from non-Hispanic whites and non-Hispanic blacks by 2-sample t test: P < 0.0001. **Non-Hispanic blacks were significantly different from non-Hispanic whites and Mexican Americans by 2-sample t test: P < 0.0001.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Prevalence (%) of high adiposity (≥80th percentile) by race-ethnic group and BMI category in boys and girls.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Kuczmarski RJ, Ogden CL, Grummer-Strawn LM, et al. CDC growth charts: United States. Adv Data 2000;314:1–27 - PubMed
    1. Kuczmarski RJ, Ogden CL, Guo SS, et al. CDC growth charts for the United States: methods and development. Vital Health Stat 11 2000;246:1–190 - PubMed
    1. Ogden CL, Kuczmarski RJ, Flegal KM, et al. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2000 growth charts for the United States: improvements to the 1977 National Center for Health Statistics version. Pediatrics 2002;109:45–60 - PubMed
    1. Barlow SE, Dietz WH. Obesity evaluation and treatment: Expert Committee recommendations. The Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services. Pediatrics 1998;102:E29. - PubMed
    1. Barlow SE.Expert committee recommendations regarding the prevention, assessment, and treatment of child and adolescent overweight and obesity: summary report. Pediatrics 2007;120(suppl 4):S164–92 - PubMed

Publication types