Introduction: The incidence of obesity is increasing dramatically not only among adults, but also in the child population.
Objective: Comparison of different anthropological methods.
Methods: The authors evaluated the data of 654 boys and 584 girls (age 15-19 years). Body height and waist circumference were measured, body composition was determined using InBody3.0 bioimpedance instrument. Body mass index and body fat percentage were calculated by the instrument.
Results: On the basis of age and gender specific diagnostic criteria for body mass index, incidence of leanness, overweight and obesity in the boys' group were 6.7, 15.9 and 4.1%, respectively. In the girls' group the respective figures were 7.2, 7.9 and 1.9%. On the basis of body fat percentage, 5.1% of boys and 16.2% of girls were obese, whereas on the basis of data for waist circumference, visceral obesity occurred in 10.5% of boys and 7.9% of girls. In the overweight groups 10.5% of boys and 77.0% of girls were obese on the basis of body fat percentage, whereas taking into consideration the values of waist circumference, 38% of boys and 55% of girls could be regarded as obese.
Conclusions: The determination of body composition is of utmost importance in obesity screening and in the follow-up slimming diets. In addition to this, simple and inexpensive waist circumference measurements should be performed in each instance.