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Updated: Sep 26, 2026

Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
Published on: February 2, 2017
Short stature is related to high body fat composition despite body mass index in a Mexican population
Juan Carlos López-Alvarenga1, Rebeca A Montesinos-Cabrera, Consuelo Velázquez-Alva
1Departamento de Endocrinología, Clínica de Obesidad, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y de la Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Mexico City, Mexico. jclalvar@yahoo.com
Background:
Mexico has a high prevalence of short stature (SS) population; thus, body mass index (BMI) criteria for diagnosis of obesity should be different from that in a tall stature (TS) population. The aim of this study was to determine whether SS at the same BMI would have greater body fat mass than those with TS.
Methods:
We studied 116 individuals, 58 with SS (women < or =1.50 m and men < or =1.60 m) matched by gender, age (+/-5 years), and BMI (+/-2). Body fat was measured by bioelectrical impedance analysis.
Results:
Paired comparisons between matched subjects showed that SS have greater body fat percentage than TS (Delta = 1.40%, p = 0.04). Subjects with BMI > or =25 and SS showed higher difference (Delta = 4.2%, p = 0.004) in body fat percentage. Subjects with SS have more body fat percentage than TS.
Conclusions:
This finding supports the hypothesis that in SS population BMI for diagnosis of obesity must be re-evaluated; from these results, we propose that diagnosis of obesity in SS be from BMI of 25.
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