Related Experiment Videos
Workshop on childhood obesity: summary of the discussion
1Rowett Research Institute, Aberdeen, Scotland, and the Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta.
Insights
Childhood obesity is a growing global concern. This study proposes using body mass index (BMI) with new cutoff points to consistently define and track overweight children and adolescents worldwide.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Pediatrics
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Childhood obesity is a significant global health issue with long-term consequences.
- Lack of a standardized international index and cutoff points hinders effective public health policy for childhood obesity.
- Overweight children often become overweight adults, necessitating urgent global action.
Purpose of the Study:
- To establish a practical and internationally acceptable index for assessing childhood obesity.
- To propose standardized cutoff points for defining overweight and obesity in children and adolescents.
Main Methods:
- A workshop convened experts to discuss and evaluate methods for assessing adiposity in children.
- Consideration of body mass index (BMI) as a potential index, acknowledging its limitations and validated against body density measurements.
- Development of proposed cutoff points for overweight and obesity based on adult BMI thresholds.
Main Results:
- Body mass index (BMI) was deemed appropriate for assessing childhood overweight, despite covarying with height.
- A scheme for cutoff points was suggested, using adult BMI thresholds of 25 and 30 for Grade 1 and Grade 2 overweight, respectively.
- The proposed cutoffs aim to provide a consistent definition for childhood obesity aligned with adult definitions.
Conclusions:
- Implementing standardized BMI cutoff points offers a new approach to identifying childhood obesity.
- This standardization will align the definition of overweight in children and adolescents with that used for adults.
- Further consideration of alternative indices may be explored in the future.
Abstract:
Childhood obesity is rapidly emerging as a global epidemic that will have profound public health consequences as overweight children become overweight adults. To address this problem, action is needed at national and international levels. However, well-documented evidence of the trends in and global prevalence of obesity in children and adolescents is required to develop sound public health policies. There is no internationally acceptable index to assess childhood obesity nor is there an established cutoff point to define overweight in children. The purpose of the workshop was to establish a reasonable index with which to assess adiposity (overweight) in children and adolescents worldwide. We present here a summary of the discussion on the establishment of an index. The participants concluded that although body mass index (BMI; in kg/m2) is not a perfect measure in children because it covaries with height, it has been validated against measurements of body density. Because a consistent and pragmatic definition for overweight in children and adolescents is required, BMI may therefore be appropriate. However, other alternatives may be considered in the future. The group suggested a scheme for cutoff points for children and adolescents based on internationally accepted BMI cutoff points for adult morbidity of 25 and 30 to identify grade 1 and grade 2 overweight, respectively. Use of these cutoff points would provide a new approach to identifying childhood obesity and make the definition for children and adolescents consistent with that for adults.