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Overweight and obesity prevalence in children based on 6- or 12-month IOTF cut-points: does interval size matter?

International Journal of Obesity volume 30, pages 603–605 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

The International Obesity Taskforce (IOTF) recommends using age- and gender-specific body mass index (BMI) cut-points for defining the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children. These are given in both 6- and 12-month age intervals. Since the BMI-for-age curves are nonlinear, a degree of bias will be introduced when age intervals are wide. We aimed to quantify this bias in prevalence estimates in 2178 Australian children aged 4–12 years using 12- versus 6-month age intervals. Using the 12-month interval, the prevalence of overweight and obesity was underestimated by 1.4% compared to the 6-month interval estimates; however, this was age-dependent. It overestimated prevalence for 4-year olds, but underestimated it for older ages by up to 2.6%. Overweight prevalence was generally affected more than obesity prevalence. The use of different age intervals for IOTF cut-points introduces a small but systematic bias in prevalence estimates of overweight and obesity.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia

    P J Kremer, A C Bell, A M Sanigorski & B A Swinburn

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  1. P J Kremer
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  2. A C Bell
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  3. A M Sanigorski
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  4. B A Swinburn
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Correspondence to P J Kremer.

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Kremer, P., Bell, A., Sanigorski, A. et al. Overweight and obesity prevalence in children based on 6- or 12-month IOTF cut-points: does interval size matter?. Int J Obes 30, 603–605 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0803162

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0803162

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