BODY MASS INDEX
VALUES IN TURKISH SCHOOL-CHILDREN 7 TO 18 YEARS OF AGE
Uçar B1, Kılıç Z1,
Dinleyici EÇ1, Kalyoncu C2
University of Osmangazi, Faculty of Medicine, Departments of
Pediatrics1 and Public Health2, Eskişehir, Turkey
Objective: Obesity has been identified as a risk
factor for a variety of conditions, including insulin resistance, abnormal
lipids and lipoproteins, elevated blood pressure, and adult morbidity and
mortality. Body mass index (BMI) helps to define obesity in children and
adolescents. This report describes the distribution of BMI in Turkish
children and adolescents living in Eskişehir, Turkey.
Methods: A randomly selected population of 4026
schoolchildren (2065 girls and 1961 boys), aged between 7-18 years, living
in urban and rural parts of Eskisehir, Turkey, were evaluated for BMI as
part of our previous coronary risk factor study. BMI was calculated by the
formula of weight (kg)/height (m²).
Results: The tables for the distributions (mean, standard
deviation and percentile values) of BMI values according to age, sex and
location and percentile curves were developed. BMI slightly increased with
age in both sexes. The mean BMI was significantly higher in girls than in
boys especially at ages between 12 to 16 years. There were no prominent
differences between urban and rural children for BMI values. The 95th
percentile values of our study population were considerably lower than
those of white children included in the first United States National Health
and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I) and United States children of
different ethnic groups.
Conclusion: Since BMI values of our population
differed from those reported from Western countries, we believe that BMI
cutoffs derived from local measurements will serve as a useful guide to
evaluate the Turkish children and adolescents for obesity.