title: Children's body fatness and prevalence of obesity in relation to height for age.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Children who are taller for their age tend to have higher BMI and, as a group, a greater prevalence of overweight/obesity.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine the relationship between height for age with three measures of adiposity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Height, weight, BMI, % body fat (%BF) (by bioimpedance) and waist circumference (WC) were measured in 2298 Caucasian children (1251 boys) aged 4-14 years. Standard deviation scores (SDS) were derived and cases divided into quartiles of height SDS. Mean BMI, %BF and WC SDSs were compared across quartiles. Prevalence of overweight/obesity, over-fat/obesity and abdominal overweight/obesity within each height for age quartile was determined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean BMI, %BF and WC SDSs increased with increasing quartile of height SDS. Overweight/obesity, overfat/obesity and abdominal overweight/obesity prevalence increased from the first quartile (8.8-13%) to the fourth quartile (32.7-45.5%) of height SDS. A significant rising trend in mean SDSs for BMI, %BF and WC was also observed with increasing height SDS in overweight/obese children only.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A higher prevalence of excess weight, measured by BMI SDS among children taller for their age, is replicated when using %BF and WC. Height for age measurement has potential in screening children for later risk of obesity.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Life Sciences & Computing, London Metropolitan University , Holloway Road, London N7 8DB , UK and.
authors.forename: Lifoter K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Navti
authors.forename: Dimple
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Samani-Radia
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: David McCarthy
mesh_terms: D050153:Abdominal Fat / Q000378:metabolism*; D000293:Adolescent; D050218:Body Fat Distribution / Q000379:methods*; D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D017097:Electric Impedance; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008131:London / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D056128:Obesity, Abdominal / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D015995:Prevalence; D055105:Waist Circumference