Nubé M, Asenso-Okyere W K, van den Boom G J
Centre for World Food Studies (SOW-VU), Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Eur J Clin Nutr. 1998 Feb;52(2):136-44. doi: 10.1038/sj.ejcn.1600528.
To assess the suitability of the body mass index (BMI) as an indicator of standard of living in developing countries.
DESIGN, SETTING AND SUBJECTS: The analysis is based on data collected in the first two rounds of the Ghana Living Standards Survey, held in 1987/88 (GLSS-I) and 1988/89 (GLSS-II). The dataset provides information on a wide range of socio-economic variables, at the individual, the household and the community level, including the height and weight data of approximately 9000 adults in the 20-65 y age bracket.
Bivariate analysis was used to assess, at the individual level and at the level of population groups, the relationships between adult Body Mass Index and selected household characteristics such as income and expenditure, years of schooling of head of household, access to services, quality of housing, and nutritional status of children. Through multiple regression, indicative estimates have been derived of the effects of these variables on adult BMI. For comparison, the same relationships were investigated for weight and height.
At the individual level, BMI shows a significantly positive relation with the various socio-economic indicators of living standard, though the correlation coefficients indicate a poor fit. However, at the level of population groups, The relationship between BMI and other characteristics of socio-economic development is strong with a correlation coefficient of 0.86 between mean BMI and mean per capita expenditures of 12 population groups in Ghana, presumed to be at different levels of standard of living. The relationships between weight and the various socioeconomic characteristics were comparable to those for BMI, while height was poorly correlated with the selected household variables. Result suggest that in low-income countries, information on adult BMI (mean and distribution) can be used for assessing differences in standards of living between population groups or for monitoring changes over time.
评估体重指数（BMI）作为发展中国家生活水平指标的适用性。
设计、背景与研究对象：该分析基于1987/88年（加纳生活水平调查第一轮，GLSS - I）和1988/89年（加纳生活水平调查第二轮，GLSS - II）收集的数据。该数据集提供了个体、家庭和社区层面广泛的社会经济变量信息，包括约9000名年龄在20 - 65岁成年人的身高和体重数据。
采用双变量分析在个体层面和人群组层面评估成人BMI与选定的家庭特征之间的关系，这些家庭特征如收入与支出、户主受教育年限、服务可及性、住房质量以及儿童营养状况。通过多元回归得出这些变量对成人BMI影响的指示性估计值。为作比较，对体重和身高也研究了相同的关系。
在个体层面，BMI与生活水平的各种社会经济指标呈显著正相关，尽管相关系数显示拟合度较差。然而，在人群组层面，BMI与社会经济发展的其他特征之间关系密切，加纳12个人群组的平均BMI与平均人均支出之间的相关系数为0.86，假定这些人群组处于不同生活水平。体重与各种社会经济特征之间的关系与BMI的关系相当，而身高与选定的家庭变量相关性较差。结果表明，在低收入国家，成人BMI信息（均值和分布）可用于评估人群组之间生活水平的差异或监测随时间的变化。
