title: Standardized centile curves of body mass index for Japanese children and adolescents based on the 1978-1981 national survey data.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The prevalence of overweight among Japanese children and adolescents has steadily increased during the last 20 years. Thus, we utilized the 1978-1981 data collected by the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry to construct reference curves of body mass index (BMI) for contemporary Japanese children and adolescents.
  
  
  METHODS
  BMI reference values were derived using the LMS method as based on height and weight data from the cross-sectional national survey of Japanese children and adolescents conducted in 1978-1981 (14,012 boys and 13 781 girls, aged 1.5-18.5 years).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The Japanese BMI reference curves were constructed for clinical use. The centile values at the upper end of the spectrum apparently differed in British, Dutch, Japanese, and US children and adolescents. In contrast, the centile values at the lower end of the spectrum nearly overlapped with each other in the four populations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overweight is concentrated in a subgroup of children and does not occur across the entire population of British, Dutch, Japanese, and US children, indicating a subgroup of genetically and/or environmentally more susceptible children in each country.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Keio University Medical School, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Mikako
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Inokuchi
authors.forename: Tomonobu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Anzo
authors.forename: Nobutake
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Matsuo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D044466:Asian People; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D006113:United Kingdom; D014481:United States