J Korean Acad Nurs.  2010 Dec;40(6):775-784. 10.4040/jkan.2010.40.6.775.

Comparison in Weight, Height, Degree of Obesity and Body Mass Index Among Different Methods for Body Shape Classification in School-Age Children

• Ahn YM
• Sohn M
• Choi SH

• KMID: 999480
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4040/jkan.2010.40.6.775

Abstract

PURPOSE
The study was conducted to describe body shapes of school age children using the degree of obesity index (DOI) and body mass index obesity index classified by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (M-BOI) and Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (S-BOI).
METHODS
In this cross sectional descriptive study health screening data for school children collected in 2007 was used.
RESULTS
Data were analyzed for 2,193 4th-6th grade boys (52%) and girls who attended 4 schools in rural areas. DOI determined that only 44.3% of students had average weight. This proportion was much lower than the results of other methods (74.3-77.6%). All three methods defined girls (51.3-61.8%) as skinnier than boys. Skinny and average body shaped children classified by DOI and obese children classified by S-BOI were heavier and taller and presented higher degrees of obesity (DO) and BMI scores than by other methods. M-BOI and S-BOI presented statistically significant positive correlations with weight, height, DO and BMI, while DOI was not correlated with height.
CONCLUSION
BMI based body shape classifications provide a more rigorous classification of body shape which are favorable for school health professionals with limited resources and policy makers for internationally comparable references.

Keyword

Body mass Index; Obesity; School health services; Body weight; Body height

MeSH Terms

Anthropometry
Body Height
*Body Mass Index
Body Weight
Child
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Humans
Male
Obesity/*epidemiology
Students/classification

Figure

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  Figure 1 Distributions of five body shapes by DOI, M-BOI and S-BOI. DOI=degree of obesity index; M-BOI=ministry of education, science and technology-BMI obesity index; S-BOI=Seoul metropolitan office of education-BMI obesity index.

• 

  Figure 2 Comparison in weight (A), height (B), degree of obesity (C) and body mass index (D) across body shapes using three methods. DOI=degree of obesity index; M-BOI=ministry of education, science and technology-BMI obesity index; S-BOI=Seoul metropolitan office of education-BMI obesity index.

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