The evaluation of fatty mass and definitions of overweight and obesity use a range of approaches, some of which are complex or invasive, and are inapplicable outside of specialised clinical practice to identify candidates for weight management [ 6- 8].
For this particular systematic review of maternal overweight and obesity, we included studies with any body mass index definition of overweight and obese or very obese, whether from self report, objective measurement, medical charts, or databases.
12, 20, 22, 31 However, although deemed necessary, so far no separate cutoff values for BMI, waist circumference, or percentage of body fat mass for classification of overweight and obesity have been defined for older adults.
By using the categorizations we defined a priori, 15% of the children studied had none of these risk factors, whereas half (52%) had at least 2. We considered BMI, DXA-assessed fat mass, and risk of overweight and obesity as outcomes when the children were aged 4 and 6 y.
The common indirect method of identifying overweight among children is use of the body mass index (BMI) [ 3- 6].
Sir, In their report, Engeland et al (2003) examined height (an indicator of genetic and early life environmental factors) and body mass index (an indicator of overweight) in relation to prostate cancer, finding an elevated risk in men of tall stature and of overweight.
39 In a UK population based, cross sectional study with data on diet and measured body weight, we examined the extent to which exposure to takeaway food outlets in home and non-home environments was associated with consumption of energy dense takeaway foods, body mass index, and odds of overweight and obesity.
The prevalences of overweight (body mass index ≥25) and thinness (body mass index <18.5) in 2005 were 29.0% and 5.4%.
In women subcutaneous fat mass prevails – and during augmentation of overweight it increases – while in men intra-abdominal fat mass prevails [ 11- 13].
To identify rates of overweight (body mass index [BMI] ≥85th percentile) and obesity (BMI ≥95th percentile) at 6-7 years of age and associated risk factors among extremely preterm infants born at <28 weeks of gestation.
