Abstract
This study investigated the prevalence of obesity in 1671 Caucasian 11–14 year olds using body mass index (BMI) and fat percentage (F%). Age and sex-related criteria for both BMI and F% were applied to characterise the individuals as normal, overweight/overfat or obese. Using BMI, 5.6% males and 6.1% females were identified as obese. F% gave higher values for obesity: 11.9% males and 15.3% females. The prevalence of obesity appears to be in-line with other surveys; however, the outcome does appear to depend on both the measure employed (BMI/F%) and the categories used (overweight/obese). Questions are raised by this survey as to whether BMI is underestimating the number of individuals who are obese, given that obesity is a factor of adiposity, and whether the two measures are identifying the same individuals as obese; 23% were categorised differently between the two measures. These issues have implications for both survey and clinical work.
Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge the involvement of the schools and the subjects in this study and the work of those who helped in collecting the data. The University of Chichester financed this study.
This study involves the use of a Tanita BC 418MA. This research group have previously received a grant from Tanita, UK, but it was not used to finance this study.