title: Are Japanese criteria for obesity useful for screening at risk Japanese? Consideration from anthropometric indices-percentage body fat relationships.
abstract: Both childhood and adult obesity are of serious public health concern in Japan. While Japan has diagnostic criteria for both childhood and adult obesity and metabolic syndrome, the appropriateness of the proposed criteria has been questioned. The present study aimed to determine screening ability of anthropometric indices relative to estimated percentage body fat (% BF) and to propose gender- and maturation-specific cut-off points using 1,393 Japanese (552 males and 841 females; 7.6-66.3 years old). Between 20%-50% of individuals with high fat deposits were misclassified using body mass index (BMI), abdominal circumference (AC), abdominal to height ratio (AHtR), and sum of two skinfolds (Sigma2SF). Using the WHO public action point of 23 kg/m2, AC of 80 cm, AHtR of 0.5 for all groups and Sigma2SF of 25 mm for males and 40 mm for females were estimated to be potentially useful cut-off points. The results may indicate a need for further research for appropriate screening cut-off points for Japanese.
authors.affiliation: ATN Centre for Metabolic Fitness, School of Human Movement Studies, Queensland University of Technology, QLD, Australia. m.kagawa@qut.edu.au
authors.forename: Masaharu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kagawa
authors.forename: Yasuaki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tahara
authors.forename: Nuala M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Byrne
authors.forename: Kazuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Moji
authors.forename: Noriaki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tsunawake
authors.forename: Andrew P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Hills
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000886:Anthropometry / Q000379:methods*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012015:Reference Standards; D012307:Risk Factors; D055815:Young Adult