[Screening of obese or lean schoolchildren; difficulty in applying "the Japanese weight and height standards for estimating over- and under-weight" to younger people].
Obesity or leanness of an individual tends to continue from childhood to adult ages. It is therefore desirable to establish a single standard for obesity/leanness that is applicable throughout these stages of life. Trials were made in the present study to examine if 'the Japanese weight and height standards for estimating over- and under-weight' (established for adults by the Ministry of Health and Welfare of the Government of Japan) is applicable also to younger people. The standard is developed with two assumptions that both height and logarithm of weight distribute normally. The height and weight of about 83,000 6th-grade children in primary schools (12 years of age; with boys and girls of an equal number), and about 78,000 3rd-year-children in junior high schools (15 years of age) were available. The analyses of the data disclosed that, whereas height distributes normally, their weight does not fit with normal distribution when converted logarithmically or even when the conversion is made after subtraction of a constant value from the weight. The distribution pattern of weight of children was however essentially the same, independent of height. Thus, it was possible to classify the children into five categories of definitely obese (10%), tending toward obesity (15%), normal (50%), slim (15%) and thin (10%) groups with the same statistical parameters, regardless of their height excluding extremely tall or short cases.
Nakatsuka
H
H
Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Tohoku University School of Medicine.
Satoh
H
H
Koyama
H
H
Watanabe
C
C
Ikeda
M
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012015:Reference Standards; D013851:Thinness / Q000453:epidemiology*