A height-weight formula to measure body fat in childhood obesity
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: The assessment of body composition is central in diagnosis and treatment of paediatric obesity, but a criterion method is not feasible in clinical practice. Even the use of bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) is limited in children. Body mass index (BMI) Z-score is frequently used as a proxy index of body composition, but it does not discriminate between fat mass and fat-free mass. We aimed to assess the extent to which fat mass and percentage of body fat estimated by a height-weight equation agreed with a BIA equation in youths with obesity from South Italy. Furthermore, we investigated the correlation between BMI Z-score and fat mass or percentage of body mass estimated by these two models. METHODS: One-hundred-seventy-four youths with obesity (52.3% males, mean age 10.8 ± 1.9) were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Fat mass and percentage of body fat were calculated according to a height-weight based prediction model and to a BIA prediction model. RESULTS: According to Bland-Altman statistics, mean differences were relatively small for both fat mass (+ 0.65 kg) and percentage of body fat (+ 1.27%) with an overestimation at lower mean values; the majority of values fell within the limits of agreement. BMI Z-score was significantly associated with both fat mass and percentage of body fat, regardless of the method, but the strength of correlation was higher when the height-weight equation was considered (r = 0.82; p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This formula may serve as surrogate for body fat estimation when instrumental tools are not available. Dealing with changes of body fat instead of BMI Z-score may help children and parents to focus on diet for health.
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BMI is relatively simple to measure in adults and functionally sums a variety of complex body indicators.
“BMI is relatively simple to measure in adults [4,5,6,7,8,9] and functionally sums a variety of complex body indicators.”
From Advantages and Limitations of the Body Mass Index (BMI) to Assess Adult Obesity (2024) · cites this paper as [7]
The Background describes weight-and-height-based measures, including BMI, as practical and repeatable; the Methods say BMI is calculated from weight and height. This supports the claim that BMI is relatively simple to measure, but the paper studies children and does not specifically establish that point in adults. The citation is attached to the first clause, so the sentence’s separate claim about complex body indicators is not assessed here. (LLM, conf=0.82)
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Advantages and Limitations of the Body Mass Index (BMI) to Assess Adult Obesity
Wu, Y., Li, D., & Vermund, S. H. (2024) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph21060757 · Cited by 332 · see citing works
- Authors
- Licenziati, M. R., Ballarin, G., Iannuzzo, G., Lonardo, M. S., Di Vincenzo, O., Iannuzzi, A., & Valerio, G.
- Affiliations
- Santobono Children's Hospital (IT)
- Parthenope University of Naples (IT)
- Federico II University Hospital (IT)
- Ospedale Antonio Cardarelli (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Valerio, Giuliana
- ORCID
- Venue
- Italian Journal of Pediatrics
- Published
- 2022-06-21
- Volume
- 48
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 106-106
- ISSN
- 1720-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1824-7288
- PMC
- PMC9210685
- OpenAlex
- W4283212961
- Cited by
- 9
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2
- FWCI
- 0.93
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- The Italian Journal of Pediatrics/Italian journal of pediatrics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- IRIS Research product catalog (Sapienza University of Rome) (submittedVersion)
- CINECA IRIS Institutial research information system (Parthenope University of Naples) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Body Composition Measurement Techniques
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer Risks and Factors
- Keywords
- childhood obesity, body fat estimation, bioelectrical impedance analysis, fat mass, BMI z-score, body composition, children and adolescents
- MeSH terms
- Adipose Tissue, Adolescent, Body Composition, Child, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Humans, Male, Body Mass Index, Electric Impedance, Pediatric Obesity
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