Amani R
Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Paramedicine, Ahvaz Jundi-Shapour University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran.
Eur J Clin Nutr. 2007 Apr;61(4):478-82. doi: 10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602545. Epub 2006 Oct 25.
Obesity has an increasing trend worldwide. Recently, application of body mass index (BMI) cutoff points of obesity classification for all population studies has been questioned. On the other hand, bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) is a safe, accurate, reliable and inexpensive method for screening the overweight and obesity in such studies.
There were three objectives followed in this research: to determine the prevalence of obesity and overweight in married women using BMI and BIA methods; to evaluate the correlation between these methods; and to compare the women's obesity degrees according to their educational levels.
Six hundred and thirty-seven healthy married women 18-40 years aged, who had referred to 14 health centers of the city of Ahvaz (center of Khouzestan province, south-west of Iran) were recruited in a cross-sectional design, and their socio-economic and anthropometric questionnaires were completed by the trained students. Body fat percent (%BF) and body fat mass (BFM) were measured using BIA method. BMI>25 and >30 kg/m(2) were used as criteria for determining the overweight and obese women, respectively. %BF>35% was regarded as cutoff for defining obesity.
Mean age+/-s.d. of the women was 26.9+/-5.8 years and majority of them were housewives with secondary educational level. Their BMI, %BF, waist-to-hip ratio, and mid-upper arm circumference means were: 25.9(4.7) kg/m(2), 27.6(7.3)%, 0.75(0.08) and 27.9(3.9) cm, respectively. Central obesity was prevalent in 21.2% of the subjects. Prevalence of obesity determined by BMI and BIA methods was 18.3 and 15.5% and women within normal ranges were detected in 44.7 and 46% of the subjects by these methods, respectively. However, thin (underweight) women were 2.6 and 14.6% of the subjects studied, respectively. About one half of the women were overweight or obese. BMI was statistically correlated with BFM (r=0.86; P<0.0001) and %BF (r=0.77; P<0.0001). Women with higher educational levels had lower body fat percentage and BMI than the other subjects with lower degrees (P<0.05).
Obesity and overweight is prevalent in about one-half of the Ahvazian married women and more than one-fifth of the subjects have central obesity. BIA and BMI methods can similarly detect the normal and obese married women but they are different in determining the underweight female subjects. Women with higher educational grades tend to have lower BMI levels.
肥胖在全球呈上升趋势。最近，将肥胖分类的体重指数（BMI）切点应用于所有人群研究受到了质疑。另一方面，生物电阻抗分析（BIA）是在此类研究中筛查超重和肥胖的一种安全、准确、可靠且廉价的方法。
本研究有三个目标：使用BMI和BIA方法确定已婚女性肥胖和超重的患病率；评估这些方法之间的相关性；并根据教育水平比较女性的肥胖程度。
采用横断面设计，招募了637名年龄在18 - 40岁的健康已婚女性，她们来自阿瓦士市（伊朗西南部胡齐斯坦省的中心）的14个健康中心，经过培训的学生完成了她们的社会经济和人体测量问卷。使用BIA方法测量体脂百分比（%BF）和体脂质量（BFM）。分别以BMI>25和>30 kg/m²作为确定超重和肥胖女性的标准。%BF>35%被视为定义肥胖的切点。
这些女性的平均年龄±标准差为26.9±5.8岁，大多数是家庭主妇，教育水平为中学。她们的BMI、%BF、腰臀比和上臂中部周长的平均值分别为：25.9（4.7）kg/m²、27.6（7.3）%、0.75（0.08）和27.9（3.9）cm。21.2%的受试者存在中心性肥胖。通过BMI和BIA方法确定的肥胖患病率分别为18.3%和15.5%，通过这些方法分别在44.7%和46%的受试者中检测到处于正常范围的女性。然而，消瘦（体重过轻）的女性分别占研究对象的2.6%和14.6%。约一半的女性超重或肥胖。BMI与BFM（r = 0.86；P < 0.0001）和%BF（r = 0.77；P < 0.0001）在统计学上相关。教育水平较高的女性比其他教育程度较低的受试者体脂百分比和BMI更低（P < 0.05）。
在阿瓦士已婚女性中，约一半存在肥胖和超重，超过五分之一的受试者有中心性肥胖。BIA和BMI方法在检测正常和肥胖已婚女性方面相似，但在确定体重过轻的女性受试者方面有所不同。教育程度较高的女性往往BMI水平较低。
