Departamento de Nutrição, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, MG, Brazil.
Acta Paediatr. 2011 Sep;100(9):e120-4. doi: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2011.02296.x. Epub 2011 Apr 18.
To evaluate whether anthropometric methods such as arm muscle area, arm fat area, Rohrer index, conicity index, and waist-to-height ratio and the commonly used body mass index method are suitable for obesity screening in a multiethnic paediatric population.
A cross-sectional population study was carried out in the city of Ouro Preto, Brazil, in 2006. Schoolchildren (n = 788) aged 6-15 years were selected by the stratified random sampling procedure by the proportion of students according to age and gender in all schools. Nonparametric receiver-operating characteristic analysis was used to define the cut-off for obesity for each method studied, using the tetrapolar bioelectrical impedance technique as the reference method.
Arm fat area measurements and Rohrer index were most suitable for adiposity screening in prepubertal and pubertal boys and in pubertal and prepubertal girls, respectively. In postpubertal period, the Rohrer index was the most suitable body fat assessment method in both genders.
Body mass index presented the best balance between sensitivity and specificity only in the prepubertal period and postpubertal boys. Anthropometric measurements, especially arm fat area measurements and Rohrer index, are useful for screening of adiposity in a multiethnic paediatric population.
评估人体测量方法（如手臂肌肉面积、手臂脂肪面积、罗勒指数、锥度指数和腰高比）和常用的体重指数方法是否适合多民族儿童人群的肥胖筛查。
本研究于 2006 年在巴西欧鲁普雷图市进行了一项横断面人群研究。通过按所有学校的学生年龄和性别比例进行分层随机抽样程序，选择了 6-15 岁的学龄儿童（n=788）。使用四肢多频生物电阻抗技术作为参考方法，采用非参数受试者工作特征分析来确定每种研究方法的肥胖截断值。
手臂脂肪面积测量值和罗勒指数分别最适合青春期前和青春期男孩以及青春期和青春期前女孩的肥胖筛查。在青春期后，罗勒指数是两性中最适合评估体脂肪的方法。
体重指数仅在青春期前和青春期后男孩中表现出最佳的敏感性和特异性平衡。人体测量值，尤其是手臂脂肪面积测量值和罗勒指数，可用于多民族儿童人群的肥胖筛查。
