Department of Internal Medicine, Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Obesity (Silver Spring). 2010 Jun;18(6):1242-6. doi: 10.1038/oby.2010.19. Epub 2010 Feb 11.
It has been widely assumed that for a given BMI, Asians have higher percent body fat (PBF) than whites, and that the BMI threshold for defining obesity in Asians should be lower than the threshold for whites. This study sought to test this assumption by comparing the PBF between US white and Vietnamese women. The study was designed as a comparative cross-sectional investigation. In the first study, 210 Vietnamese women ages between 50 and 85 were randomly selected from various districts in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam). In the second study, 419 women of the same age range were randomly selected from the Rancho Bernardo Study (San Diego, CA). In both studies, lean mass (LM) and fat mass (FM) were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) (QDR 4500; Hologic). PBF was derived as FM over body weight. Compared with Vietnamese women, white women had much more FM (24.8 +/- 8.1 kg vs. 18.8 +/- 4.9 kg; P < 0.0001) and greater PBF (36.4 +/- 6.5% vs. 35.0 +/- 6.2%; P = 0.012). However, there was no significant difference in PBF between the two groups after matching for BMI (35.1 +/- 6.2% vs. 35.0 +/- 5.7%; P = 0.87) or for age and BMI (35.6 +/- 5.1% vs. 35.8 +/- 5.9%; P = 0.79). Using the criteria of BMI >or=30, 19% of US white women and 5% of Vietnamese women were classified as obese. Approximately 54% of US white women and 53% of Vietnamese women had their PBF >35% (P = 0.80). Although white women had greater BMI, body weight, and FM than Vietnamese women, their PBF was virtually identical. Further research is required to derive a more appropriate BMI threshold for defining obesity for Asian women.
人们普遍认为，对于给定的 BMI，亚洲人的体脂肪百分比（PBF）高于白种人，而且亚洲人肥胖的 BMI 阈值应低于白种人。本研究旨在通过比较美国白人和越南女性的 PBF 来验证这一假设。该研究设计为比较性横断面研究。在第一项研究中，从胡志明市（越南）的各个地区随机抽取 210 名年龄在 50 至 85 岁之间的越南女性。在第二项研究中，从圣地亚哥 Rancho Bernardo 研究（加利福尼亚州）中随机抽取 419 名年龄在相同范围内的女性。在两项研究中，通过双能 X 射线吸收法（DXA）（QDR 4500；Hologic）测量瘦体重（LM）和脂肪量（FM）。PBF 是 FM 除以体重得出的。与越南女性相比，白人女性的 FM 多得多（24.8 +/- 8.1 千克对 18.8 +/- 4.9 千克；P < 0.0001），PBF 也更高（36.4 +/- 6.5%对 35.0 +/- 6.2%；P = 0.012）。然而，在按 BMI（35.1 +/- 6.2%对 35.0 +/- 5.7%；P = 0.87）或年龄和 BMI（35.6 +/- 5.1%对 35.8 +/- 5.9%；P = 0.79）匹配后，两组之间的 PBF 没有显著差异。根据 BMI >or=30 的标准，19%的美国白人女性和 5%的越南女性被归类为肥胖。约 54%的美国白人女性和 53%的越南女性的 PBF >35%（P = 0.80）。尽管白人女性的 BMI、体重和 FM 高于越南女性，但她们的 PBF 几乎相同。需要进一步研究以确定更适合亚洲女性肥胖定义的 BMI 阈值。
