title: Screening for obesity in affluent females: body mass index and its comparison with skin fold thickness.
abstract: In the present study 625 females above 15 years of age residing in affluent localities of Varanasi city were selected by multi-stage stratified random sampling technique. Body Mass Index (BMI) and Skin-Fold Thickness (SFT) were compared as indices of obesity. Prevalence of obesity by BMI and SFT was 30.24 and 49.12 respectively. SFT gave significantly higher prevalence rate of obesity as compared to BMI. It is possible that western population based SFT cut-off points may not be truly applicable to Indian study. The sensitivity, specificity and predictive value of 'sum of SFT at four sites' were calculated at different cut-off points, and it was observed, that values > or = 90 mm is the best cut-off point instead of 80 mm, for detecting obesity in the Indian context.
authors.affiliation: Department of PSM, Institute of Medical Sciences, BHU, Varanasi.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Asthana
authors.forename: V M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: R N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Mishra
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012885:Skinfold Thickness; D012923:Social Class