title: Comparison of United States and New Zealand children's body mass scores.
abstract: Body Mass Index (BMI) scores were calculated for two racially similar samples, one from New Zealand and the other from the United States, at ages 3, 5, 7 and 13 years. At ages 3, 7 and 13 years, the New Zealand subjects had higher BMI scores than their American peers. Chi-square analyses showed that a disproportionately large number of American subjects had scores in the bottom 20th percentile for their age and sex than expected at each of the four ages. Similarly, a disproportionately larger number of New Zealand subjects had BMI scores in the uppermost 20th percentile at ages 3 and 13 years. It is hypothesized that the difference in BMI scores for the two samples, which have previously been shown to have similar median heights and weights, reflects a difference in degree of body fat.
authors.affiliation: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.forename: W R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Stanton
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: T E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Jordan
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001824:Body Constitution; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009520:New Zealand; D014481:United States