Percentile Curves for Anthropometric Measures for Canadian Children and Youth

PLoS One. 2015 Jul 15;10(7):e0132891. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0132891. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Body mass index (BMI) is commonly used to assess a child's weight status but it does not provide information about the distribution of body fat. Since the disease risks associated with obesity are related to the amount and distribution of body fat, measures that assess visceral or subcutaneous fat, such as waist circumference (WC), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), or skinfolds thickness may be more suitable. The objective of this study was to develop percentile curves for BMI, WC, WHtR, and sum of 5 skinfolds (SF5) in a representative sample of Canadian children and youth. The analysis used data from 4115 children and adolescents between 6 and 19 years of age that participated in the Canadian Health Measures Survey Cycles 1 (2007/2009) and 2 (2009/2011). BMI, WC, WHtR, and SF5 were measured using standardized procedures. Age- and sex-specific centiles were calculated using the LMS method and the percentiles that intersect the adult cutpoints for BMI, WC, and WHtR at age 18 years were determined. Percentile curves for all measures showed an upward shift compared to curves from the pre-obesity epidemic era. The adult cutoffs for overweight and obesity corresponded to the 72nd and 91st percentile, respectively, for both sexes. The current study has presented for the first time percentile curves for BMI, WC, WHtR, and SF5 in a representative sample of Canadian children and youth. The percentile curves presented are meant to be descriptive rather than prescriptive as associations with cardiovascular disease markers or outcomes were not assessed.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Body Mass Index
  • Canada
  • Child
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Pediatric Obesity / diagnosis*
  • Reference Values
  • Skinfold Thickness
  • Waist Circumference
  • Waist-Height Ratio
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

This work was supported by an IWK Health Centre (http://www.iwk.nshealth.ca) Establishment Grant awarded to Dr. Stefan Kuhle (#09020). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.