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Tim J Cole a Department of Epidemiology and Public Health,
Institute of Child Health, London WC1N 1EH, b International
Obesity Task Force Secretariat, London NW1 2NS, c National Center for Health
Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hyattsville MD
20782, USA, d Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity, Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta GA 30341-3724, USA
Correspondence to: T
J Cole tim.cole{at}ich.ucl.ac.uk
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Abstract |
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Objective:
To develop an internationally acceptable
definition of child overweight and obesity, specifying the measurement,
the reference population, and the age and sex specific cut off points.
The prevalence of child obesity is increasing rapidly
worldwide.1 It is associated with several risk factors for
later heart disease and other chronic diseases including
hyperlipidaemia, hyperinsulinaemia, hypertension, and early
atherosclerosis.2-4 These risk factors may operate
through the association between child and adult obesity, but they may
also act independently.5
Because of their public health importance, the trends in child obesity
should be closely monitored. Trends are, however, difficult to quantify
or to compare internationally, as a wide variety of definitions of
child obesity are in use, and no commonly accepted standard has yet
emerged. The ideal definition, based on percentage body fat, is
impracticable for epidemiological use. Although less sensitive than
skinfold thicknesses,6 the body mass index
(weight/height2) is widely used in adult populations, and a
cut off point of 30 kg/m2 is recognised
internationally as a definition of adult obesity.7
Body mass index in childhood changes substantially with
age.
8 9
At birth the median is as low as 13 kg/m2, increases to 17 kg/m2 at age 1, decreases to 15.5 kg/m2 at age 6, then increases to 21 kg/m2 at age 20. Clearly a cut off point related to
age is needed to define child obesity, based on the same principle at
different ages, for example, using reference centiles.10
In the United States, the 85th and 95th centiles of body mass index for
age and sex based on nationally representative survey data have been recommended as cut off points to identify overweight and
obesity.11
For wider international use this definition raises two questions: why
base it on data from the United States, and why use the 85th or 95th
centile? Other countries are unlikely to base a cut off point solely on
American data, and the 85th or 95th centile is intrinsically no more
valid than the 90th, 91st, 97th, or 98th centile. Regardless of centile
or reference population, the cut off point can still be criticised as arbitrary.
A reference population could be obtained by pooling data from several
sources, if sufficiently homogeneous. A centile cut off point could in
theory be identified as the point on the distribution of body mass
index where the health risk of obesity starts to rise steeply.
Unfortunately such a point cannot be identified with any precision:
children have less disease related to obesity than adults, and the
association between child obesity and adult health risk may be mediated
through adult obesity, which is associated both with child obesity and
adult disease.
The adult cut off points in widest use Subjects
Table 1.
Design:
International survey of six large nationally representative cross sectional growth studies.
Setting:
Brazil, Great Britain, Hong Kong, the
Netherlands, Singapore, and the United States.
Subjects:
97 876 males and 94 851 females from birth to 25 years of age.
Main outcome measure:
Body mass index
(weight/height2).
Results:
For each of the surveys, centile curves were drawn that at age 18 years passed through the widely used cut off
points of 25 and 30 kg/m2 for adult overweight and obesity.
The resulting curves were averaged to provide age and sex specific cut
off points from 2-18 years.
Conclusions:
The proposed cut off points, which are
less arbitrary and more internationally based than current
alternatives, should help to provide internationally comparable
prevalence rates of overweight and obesity in children.
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Introduction
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Subjects and methods
Results
Discussion
References
a body mass index of 25 kg/m2 for overweight and 30 kg/m2 for
obesity
are related to health risk1 but are also
convenient round numbers. A workshop organised by the International
Obesity Task Force proposed that these adult cut off points be linked to body mass index centiles for children to provide child cut off
points.
12 13
We describe the development of age and sex specific cut off points for body mass index for overweight and obesity
in children, using dataset specific centiles linked to adult cut off points.
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Subjects and methods
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Subjects and methods
Results
Discussion
References
We obtained data on body mass index for children from six large
nationally representative cross sectional surveys on growth from
Brazil, Great Britain, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Singapore, and the
United States (table 1). Each survey had over 10 000 subjects, with
ages ranging from 6-18 years, and quality control measures to minimise
measurement error. Four of the datasets were based on single samples
whereas the British and American data consisted of pooled samples
collected over a period of time. We omitted the most recent survey data
from the United States (1988-94) because we preferred to use data
predating the recent increase in prevalence of obesity.19
In practice this decision made virtually no difference to the final cut
off points.
Centile curves
Centile curves for body mass index were constructed for each
dataset by sex using the LMS method,15 which
summarises the data in terms of three smooth age specific curves called
L (lambda), M (mu), and S (sigma). The M and S curves correspond to the
median and coefficient of variation of body mass index at each age
whereas the L curve allows for the substantial age dependent skewness
in the distribution of body mass index. The values for L, M, and S can
be tabulated for a series of ages. The Brazilian and US surveys (table
1) used a weighted sampling design, and their data were analysed accordingly.
that is, z=
2,
1.33,
0.67, 0, +0.67, +1.33, and +2.
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the curve joins up points where the prevalence
matches that seen at age 18.
This process is repeated for all six datasets, by sex. Superimposing
their curves leads to a cluster of centile curves that all pass through
the adult cut off point yet represent a wide range of overweight and
obesity. The hypothesis is that the relation between cut off point and
prevalence at different ages gives the same curve shape irrespective of
country or obesity. If sufficiently similar the curves can be averaged
to provide a single smooth curve passing through the adult cut off
point. The curve is representative of all the datasets involved but is
unrelated to their obesity
the cut off point is effectively
independent of the spectrum of obesity in the reference data.
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Results |
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Figure 2 shows the median curves for body mass index in the six datasets by sex from birth to 20 years. A wide range of values spans several units of body mass index in both sexes. These show the different extents of overweight across datasets, reflecting national differences in fatness. The median curves are all about the same shape, although the curve for Singaporean males is more curved, being lowest at ages 6 and 19 and highest at age 11.
Averaging the median curves would be a simple way to summarise the age trend in body mass index through childhood. But the resulting position of the curve at each age would depend on the overweight prevalence of the countries in the reference set, and so would be comparatively arbitrary. In any case the median is not an extreme centile and is ineffective as a cut off point. So averaging the median curves is not the answer.
Instead the centile curves are linked to adult cut off points of 25 and 30 kg/m2, positioned at age 18 to maximise the available data. These values are expressed as centiles for each dataset, and the corresponding centile curves are drawn. Figure 1 shows the centile curves for overweight and obesity for the British reference.
Figure 3 presents the centile curves for overweight for the six datasets by sex, passing through the adult cut off point of 25 kg/m2 at age 18. They are much closer together than the median curves (fig 2), particularly above age 10, because the national differences in overweight prevalence have been largely adjusted out. The divergence of the Singaporean curve is more pronounced than in figure 2.
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Figure 4 gives the corresponding centile curves for obesity in each dataset, all passing through a body mass index of 30 kg/m2 at age 18. There is less agreement than for the centiles for overweight, and again Singapore stands out.
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Table 2 gives the centiles for overweight corresponding to a body mass
index of 25 kg/m2 at age 18 for each dataset by
sex. For example, they approximate the 95th centile for Dutch males and
the 90th centile for British males
that is, prevalences of overweight
of 5-10%. The centiles for obesity corresponding to a body mass index
of 30 kg/m2 in table 3 are mainly above the 97th
centile, less than 3% prevalence, and they show more
variability.
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The curves in figures 3 and 4 are reasonably consistent across countries between ages 8 and 18, although those for Singapore are higher between ages 10 and 15. This is due partly to the increased median (fig 2) and partly to greater variability. The LMS method estimates the coefficient of variation (or S curve) of body mass index during the centile fitting process, and figure 5 compares the S curves for the six datasets. Between ages 6 and 15 the coefficient of variation in Singapore is greater than for the other countries. The range of values for the coefficient of variation in puberty is greater for males than females, and for Brazil, Singapore, and the United States the curves for both sexes show a peak in puberty.
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The amount of skewness, as measured by the sample L curves, is similar across countries. The Box-Cox powers are consistently between -1 and -2 indicating extreme skewness (not shown).
Table 4 shows international cut off points for body mass index for overweight and obesity from 2-18 years, obtained by averaging the centile curves in figures 3 and 4. From 2-6 years the cut off points do not include Singapore because its data start at age 6 years. Figure 6 shows the cut off points, with the values at 5.5 and 6 years adjusted slightly to ensure a smooth join between the two sets of curves.
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Discussion |
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Our method addresses the two main problems of defining internationally acceptable cut off points for body mass index for overweight and obesity in children. The reference population was obtained by averaging across a heterogeneous mix of surveys from different countries, with widely differing prevalence rates for obesity, whereas the appropriate cut off point was defined in body mass index units in young adulthood and extrapolated to childhood, conserving the corresponding centile in each dataset. This principle, proposed at a meeting in 1997,13 was discussed in a recent editorial.12
Although less arbitrary and potentially more internationally acceptable than other cut off points, this approach still provides a statistical definition, with all the advantages and disadvantages that that implies.20 Our terminology corresponds to adult cut off points, but the health consequences for children above the cut off points may differ from those for adults. Children who are overweight but not obese should be evaluated for other factors as well.11 Nonetheless, the cut off points based on a heterogeneous worldwide population can be applied widely to determine whether the children and adolescents they identify are at increased risk of morbidity related to obesity.
Agreement of the centile curves
The major uncertainty with our approach, and the test of its
validity, is the extent to which the centile curves for the datasets
are of the same shape. Figures 3 and 4 show that although the agreement
is reasonable it is not perfect. If it were perfect
that is, all the
curves were superimposed
the reference cut off points applied to a
given dataset would give the same prevalence for obesity at all ages,
which could be predicted from the prevalence at age 18. So the
different shapes in figures 3 and 4 show to what extent the age
specific prevalence deviates from the age 18 prevalence within datasets.
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Extending the dataset
We recognise that the reference population made up of these
countries is less than ideal. It probably reflects Western populations
adequately but lacks representation from other parts of the world. The
Hong Kong sample may, however, be fairly representative of the Chinese,
and the Brazilian and US datasets include many subjects of African
descent. Although additional datasets from Africa and Asia would be
helpful, our stringent inclusion criteria of a large sample, national
representativeness, minimum age range 6-18 years, and data quality
control, mean that further datasets are unlikely to emerge from these
continents in the foreseeable future. To our knowledge no other
available surveys satisfy the criteria. It is not realistic to wait for them because there is an urgent need for international cut off points
now. Also, our methodology aims to adjust for differences in overweight
between countries, so it could be argued that adding other countries to
the reference set would make little difference to the cut off points.
None the less, further research is needed to explore patterns of body
mass index in children in Africa and Asia.
Puberty
The body mass index curves in figure 6 show a fairly linear
pattern for males but a higher and more concave shape for females. This
sex difference can also be seen in the individual curves of figures 2
to 4 reflecting earlier puberty in females. The sensitivity of the
curve's shape to the timing of puberty may affect the performance of
the cut off points in countries where puberty is appreciably
delayed,21 although delays of less than two years are
unlikely to make much difference.
Use of cut off points
The cut off points in table 4 are tabulated at exact half year
ages and for clinical use need to be linearly interpolated to the
subject's age. For epidemiological use, with age groups of one year
width, the cut off point at the mid year value (for example, at age 7.5 for the 7.0-8.0 age group) will give an essentially unbiased estimate
of the prevalence.
a weakness of most "growth" charts.
Longitudinal data are needed to derive correlations of body mass index
from one age to another, which then define the likely variability of
centile crossing.
24 25
Conclusions
Our analysis provides cut off points for body mass index in
childhood that are based on international data and linked to the widely
accepted adult cut off points of a body mass index of 25 and 30 kg/m2. Our approach avoids some of the usual
arbitrariness of choosing the reference data and cut off point.
Applying the cut off points to the national datasets on which they are
based gives a wide range of prevalence estimates at age 18 of 5-18%
for overweight and 0.1-4% for obesity. A similar range of estimates is
likely to be seen from age 2-18. The cut off points are recommended for use in international comparisons of prevalence of overweight and obesity.
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What is already known on this topic
Child obesity is a serious public health problem that is surprisingly difficult to define The 95th centile of the US body mass index reference has recently been proposed as a cut off point for child obesity, but like previous definitions it is far from universally accepted What this study addsA new definition of overweight and obesity in childhood, based on pooled international data for body mass index and linked to the widely used adult obesity cut off point of 30 kg/m2, has been proposed The definition is less arbitrary and more international than others, and should encourage direct comparison of trends in child obesity worldwide |
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Acknowledgments |
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We thank Carlos Monteiro (Brazil), Sophie Leung (Hong Kong), Machteld Roede (the Netherlands), Uma Rajan (Singapore), Claude Bouchard (Canada), Marie Françoise Rolland Cachera (France), Yuji Matsuzawa (Japan), Barry Popkin (USA, for the Russian data), Gunilla Tanner-Lindgren (Sweden), and Mercedes Lopez de Blanco (Venezuela) for allowing us access to their data.
Contributors: TJC had the original idea, did most of the statistical analyses, and wrote the first draft of the paper. TJC, MCB, KMF, and WHD provided the data. KMF did further analyses of the US data. All authors attended the original childhood obesity workshop, participated in the design and planning of the study, discussed the interpretation of the results, and contributed to the final paper. TJC will act as guarantor for the paper.
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Footnotes |
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Funding: This work was supported by the Childhood Obesity Working Group of the International Obesity Task Force. TJC is supported by a Medical Research Council programme grant.
Competing interests: None declared.
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References |
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(Accepted 21 January 2000)