Poster Presentation
Friday, July 13, 2007
9:30 AM - 10:15 AM
Friday, July 13, 2007
3:15 PM - 4:00 PM
The Use of Body Mass Index for the Diagnosis of Obesity: A Comparative study with Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis
Dania Ochoa Casares, MSN, RN, CNE, Nursing, The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College, Brownsville, TX, USA and Gerson Peltz, MD, MPH, Biological Science Department, The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College, Brownsville, TX, USA.
| Learning Objective #1: understand why the accuracy of BMI to predict obesity is controversial.
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| Learning Objective #2: understand the ability of BMI to predict obesity by using Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis as the reference method. |
Body mass index (BMI) has been extensively used to estimate mortality risk associated with overweight and obesity. However, the accuracy of BMI to predict obesity is controversial. BMI does not provide information about the respective contributions of fat-free mass and fat mass to body weight. We investigated the ability of BMI to predict obesity in 445 Mexican American university students (309 females and 136 males). Bioelectrical impedance analysis was used as the reference method and Sun’s predictive equations were used to estimate % body fat (%BF). Males with %BF of 25 or higher and females with %BF of 30 or higher were considered obese. BMI did not predict obesity in 64% of obese males and in 74% of obese females. Moreover, 29% of obese males and 48% of obese females had a BMI below 25. BMI is not a good indicator of obesity in Mexican American university students and further investigations using gold standard methods of body composition are necessary in this ethnic group.