Association between waist circumference and percentage body fat among rural Thais
Pongchaiyakul, C.; Pongchaiyakul, C.; Wanothayaroj, E.; Nguyen, T.V.; Rajatanavin, R.
Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand 89(10): 1592-1600
2006
ISSN/ISBN: 0125-2208 PMID: 17128832 Document Number: 2612
Objective: Determine the association between waist circumference (WC) and percentage body fat (%BF) and to develop cut-off values and evaluate the accuracy of WC in the definition of obesity in rural Thai population.Material and Method. A cross-sectional, epidemiologic study in 181 men and 255 women aged 50 +/- 16 yr (mean +/- SD; range: 20-84 yr) sampled by stratified clustering sampling method, was designed Percentage body fat was measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (GE Lunar Corp, Madison, WI). The "golden standard" for defining obesity was%BF >= 25 in men and%BF >= 35 in women. Waist circumference in centimeter was measured.Results: In this study, the %BF-based prevalence of obesity in men and women was 8.3% and 44%, respectively. However using the WC cut-off (WHO) of 102 cm in men and 88 cm in women, only 1.7% of men and 24% of women were classified as obese. WC was a significant predictor of %BF such that in men, a WC of 93 cm would predict a %BF of 25%, and in women a WC of 84 cm would correspond to a %BF of 35%. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.87 and 0.88 in men and women, respectively. In conclusion, waist circumference is a reasonably useful indicator of obesity.Conclusion: The cut-off values of WC for diagnosing obesity should be lower in Thailand than in Western countries.
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