Weight status among Iranian adolescents: Comparison of four different criteria

Nimah Bahreini; Mohd Ismail Noor; Poh Bee Koon; Ruzita Abd Talib; Syarif Husin Lubis; Marjan Ganjali Dashti; Amin Salehi-Abargouei; Ahmad Esmaillzadeh

Weight status among Iranian adolescents: Comparison of four different criteria

J Res Med Sci. 2013 Aug;18(8):641-6.

Authors

Nimah Bahreini¹, Mohd Ismail Noor², Poh Bee Koon², Ruzita Abd Talib², Syarif Husin Lubis³, Marjan Ganjali Dashti⁴, Amin Salehi-Abargouei⁵, Ahmad Esmaillzadeh⁵

Affiliations

¹ Food Security Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran ; Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, MARA University of Technology, Puncak Alam, Malaysia, Nutritional Sciences Programme, School of Healthcare Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
² Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, MARA University of Technology, Puncak Alam, Malaysia, Nutritional Sciences Programme, School of Healthcare Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
³ Biomedical Sciences, School of Health Sciences Faculty of Health Sciences, Penanag, Malaysia.
⁴ School of Biological Science, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penanag, Malaysia.
⁵ Food Security Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran ; Department of Community Nutrition, School of Nutrition and Food Science, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.

PMID: 24379838
PMCID: PMC3872601

Abstract

Background: Obesity or being overweight is a major health problem in Iran. Only few studies are available that compare the obesity prevalence by four different available criteria. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity among Isfahani adolescents based on four different definitions.

Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 3002 Isfahani students (1377 males; 1625 females) aged 11-18 years. Anthropometric measurements including weight and height were measured and body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Sex-specific BMI-for-age reference data of the Iranian national data, Center for Disease Control data (CDC2000), International Obesity taskforce data (IOTF), and recent World Health Organization (WHO) data was used to define overweight and obesity.

Results: The mean age of the studied population was 14.8 years and the mean BMI was 20.3 kg/m(2). Girls were on an average 1.4 years older and had almost one unit higher BMI than boys. Underweight was prevalent among almost 38.5% and 25.5% of adolescents as per WHO2007 and national Iranian cut-off points, respectively. The prevalence rates reached 39.5% and 45.8% by IOTF and CDC2000 criteria, respectively. The highest prevalence of overweight was obtained by IOTF cut-points (30.5%), while CDC2000 criteria, WHO2007, and national Iranian cut-points gave similar prevalence results (4.7%, 4.0%, and 4.4%); 2.4% of the studied population were found to be obese by WHO2007 definition, while this rate was 0.8%, 0.5%, and 0.8% by IOTF, CDC2000, and national Iranian cut-points.

Conclusion: Almost all definitions revealed coexistence of underweight, overweight, and obesity among Isfahani adolescents. Huge differences exist between different criteria for assessing weight status among children. To understand the best appropriate criteria for Iranian adolescents, future studies should focus on the predictability of obesity related co-morbidities by these criteria.

Keywords: Adolescents; body mass index; obesity; overweight; prevalence; weight.