Body fat reference curves for healthy Turkish children and adolescents.
Childhood obesity is a major worldwide health problem. In addition to body mass index (BMI), body fat percentiles may be used to predict future cardiovascular and metabolic health risks. The aim of this study is to define new age- and gender-specific body fat centiles for Turkish children and adolescents. A total of 4,076 (2,276 girls, 1,800 boys) children and adolescents aged 6-18 years were recruited for this study. Total body fat was measured by a bioelectrical impedance noninvasive method. Body fat percentiles were produced by the LMS method. The body fat percentile curves of boys appear to rise from age 6 to 12 years and then slope downwards to age 15 years and then flatten off. The body fat % percentiles of girls increased until 14 years of age through 75th to 97th percentiles and then slope downwards, but through the third to 50th percentiles, they showed a downward slope after 14 years old.


CONCLUSIONS
Since BMI may not always reflect body fat content, direct assessment of adiposity by a practical method would be significantly useful for clinical decisions. Therefore, this study provides normative data for body fat percentage in healthy Turkish children and adolescents. To this goal we used a practical and clinically applicable method. These references can be useful for evaluation of overweight and obesity.
Kurtoglu
Selim
S
Department of Pediatric Endocrinology, Erciyes University Faculty of Medicine, Kayseri, Turkey. selimk@erciyes.edu.tr
Mazicioglu
Mumtaz Mustafa
MM
Ozturk
Ahmet
A
Hatipoglu
Nihal
N
Cicek
Betul
B
Ustunbas
Hasan Basri
HB
D000273:Adipose Tissue; D000293:Adolescent; D050218:Body Fat Distribution / Q000592:standards*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012016:Reference Values; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology