We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Excessive adiposity at low BMI levels among women in rural Bangladesh.
- Authors
Shaikh, Saijuddin; Jones-Smith, Jessica; Schulze, Kerry; Ali, Hasmot; Christian, Parul; Shamim, Abu Ahmed; Mehra, Sucheta; Labrique, Alain; Klemm, Rolf; Lee Wu; Rashid, Mahbubur; West Jr, Keith P.
- Abstract
Asian populations have a higher percentage body fat (%BF) and are at higher risk for CVD and related complications at a given BMI compared with those of European descent. We explored whether %BF was disproportionately elevated in rural Bangladeshi women with low BMI. Height, weight, mid-upper arm circumference, triceps and subscapular skinfolds and bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) were measured in 1555 women at 3 months postpartum. %BF was assessed by skinfolds and by BIA. BMI was calculated in adults and BMI Z-scores were calculated for females <20 years old. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves found the BMI and BMI Z-score cut-offs that optimally classified women as having moderately excessive adipose tissue (defined as >30% body fat). Linear regressions estimated the association between BMI and BMI Z-score (among adolescents) and %BF. Mean BMI was 19·2 (SD 2·2) kg/m², and mean %BF was calculated as 23·7 (SD 4·8) % by skinfolds and 23·3 (SD 4·9) % by BIA. ROC analyses indicated that a BMI value of approximately 21 kg/m² optimised sensitivity (83·6%) and specificity (84·2%) for classifying subjects with >30% body fat according to BIA among adults. This BMI level is substantially lower than the WHO recommended standard cut-off point of BMI = 25 kg/m2. The equivalent cut-off among adolescents was a BMI Z-score of -0·36, with a sensitivity of 81·3% and specificity of 80·9%. These findings suggest that Bangladeshi women exhibit excess adipose tissue at substantially lower BMI compared with non-South Asian populations. This is important for the identification and prevention of obesity-related metabolic diseases.
- Publication
Journal of Nutritional Science, 2016, Vol 5, p1
- ISSN
2048-6790
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1017/jns.2015.32