How to define obesity? Evidence-based multiple action points for public awareness, screening, and treatment: an extension of Asian-Pacific recommendations.
Metabolic risks are greater in Asians than Caucasians at a given body mass index (BMI). It is generally accepted that the BMI cut-off points for defining overweight and obesity should be lower for Asians. However, the percent body fat at a given BMI and metabolic responses to fatness vary among the different ethnic groups in Asia. Therefore, roughly even-spaced multiple action points (i.e., BMIs of 23, 25, 27.5, 30, 32.5, 35 and 37.5) have been advocated for managing obesity in Asians. We propose here evidence-based ethnicity-specific action points for public awareness, screening, and treatment that take into consideration sensitivity, specificity, and positive/negative predictive values for cardiovascular disease and/or metabolic syndromes, which are the most preva-lent adverse consequences of obesity.
Pan
Wen-Harn
WH
Division of Epidemiology and Genetics, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan. pan@ibms.sinica.edu.tw
Yeh
Wen-Ting
WT
D044466:Asian People / Q000145:classification*; D001364:Awareness; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005006:Ethnicity; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000401:mortality; D009765:Obesity / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012016:Reference Values; D012307:Risk Factors