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Validation of a BMI cut-off point to predict an adverse cardiometabolic profile with adiposity measurements by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in Guatemalan children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 June 2014

Olga Redondo
Affiliation:
Social and Cardiovascular Epidemiology Research Group, School of Medicine, University of Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid 28871, Spain Research Support Unit, La Mancha Centro General Hospital, Alcázar de San Juan, 13600 Ciudad Real, Spain
Eduardo Villamor
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Javiera Valdés
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health, Medical Faculty, Catholic University of the North, Santiago de Chile, Chile
Usama Bilal
Affiliation:
Social and Cardiovascular Epidemiology Research Group, School of Medicine, University of Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid 28871, Spain Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
Benjamín Caballero
Affiliation:
Center for Human Nutrition, Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
Dina Roche
Affiliation:
INCAP Comprehensive Center for the Prevention of Chronic Diseases (CIIPEC), Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP), Guatemala 1188, Central America
Fernanda Kroker
Affiliation:
INCAP Comprehensive Center for the Prevention of Chronic Diseases (CIIPEC), Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP), Guatemala 1188, Central America
Manuel Ramírez-Zea
Affiliation:
INCAP Comprehensive Center for the Prevention of Chronic Diseases (CIIPEC), Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP), Guatemala 1188, Central America
Manuel Franco*
Affiliation:
Social and Cardiovascular Epidemiology Research Group, School of Medicine, University of Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid 28871, Spain Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
*
* Corresponding author: Email manuel.franco@uah.es
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Abstract

Objective

To identify a body fat percentage (%BF) threshold related to an adverse cardiometabolic profile and its surrogate BMI cut-off point.

Design

Cross-sectional study.

Setting

Two public schools in poor urban areas on the outskirts of Guatemala City.

Subjects

A convenience sample of ninety-three healthy, prepubertal, Ladino children (aged 7–12 years).

Results

Spearman correlations of cardiometabolic parameters were higher with %BF than with BMI-for-age Z-score. BMI-for-age Z-score and %BF were highly correlated (r=0·84). The %BF threshold that maximized sensitivity and specificity for predicting an adverse cardiometabolic profile (elevated homeostasis model assessment–insulin resistance index and/or total cholesterol:HDL-cholesterol ratio) according to receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was 36 %. The BMI-for-age Z-score cut-off point that maximized the prediction of BF ≥ 36 % by the same procedure was 1·5. The area under the curve (AUC) for %BF and for BMI data showed excellent accuracy to predict an adverse cardiometabolic profile (AUC 0·93 (sd 0·04)) and excess adiposity (AUC 0·95 (sd 0·02)).

Conclusions

Since BMI standards have limitations in screening for adiposity, specific cut-off points based on ethnic-/sex- and age-specific %BF thresholds are needed to better predict an adverse cardiometabolic profile.

Information

Type
Research Papers
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2014 
Figure 0

Table 1 Descriptive characteristics by sex in ninety-three healthy, prepubertal, Ladino children (aged 7–12 years), Guatemala

Figure 1

Table 2 Cross-correlation between adiposity and BMI with cardiometabolic factors: partial Spearman correlation coefficients adjusted for age and/or sex* in ninety-three healthy, prepubertal, Ladino children (aged 7–12 years), Guatemala

Figure 2

Fig. 1 Empirical receiver operating characteristic curve predicting children with abnormal homeostasis model assessment–insulin resistance index and/or total cholesterol:HDL-cholesterol levels using specific percentage body fat thresholds in ninety-three healthy, prepubertal, Ladino children (aged 7–12 years), Guatemala

Figure 3

Table 3 Specificity, sensitivity and likelihood ratios for each %BF threshold to predict an adverse cardiometabolic risk profile in ninety-three healthy, prepubertal, Ladino children (aged 7–12 years), Guatemala

Figure 4

Fig. 2 Empirical receiver operating characteristic curve predicting children with excess adiposity levels implying an adverse cardiometabolic profile using specific BMI-for-age Z-score thresholds in ninety-three healthy, prepubertal, Ladino children (aged 7–12 years), Guatemala

Figure 5

Table 4 Specificity, sensitivity and likelihood ratios for each BMI-for-age Z-score threshold to predict adiposity in ninety-three healthy, prepubertal, Ladino children (aged 7–12 years), Guatemala