Original articles

Ethnic and gender differences in body fat in British schoolchildren as measured by DXA

Nicholas J Shaw¹, Nicola J Crabtree^1,2, Mohammed S Kibirige³, John N Fordham⁴

¹ Department of Endocrinology, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Birmingham, UK
² Department of Nuclear Medicine, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK
³ Department of Paediatrics, James Cook University Hospital, Middlesborough, UK
⁴ Department of Rheumatology, James Cook University Hospital, Middlesborough, UK

Dr N J Shaw, Department of Endocrinology, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Birmingham B4 6NH, UK; nick.shaw{at}bch.nhs.uk

Background: There are known to be ethnic differences in body composition in adults which are related to ethnic differences in adult disease.

Objectives: To evaluate gender and ethnic differences in percentage body fat in British schoolchildren and to compare these differences with classification of obesity using body mass index (BMI) criteria.

Design: A cross-sectional study of 1251 healthy children and adolescents aged 5–18 years from white, South Asian and African-Caribbean ethnic groups. Percentage body fat was determined by dual x ray absorptiometry and the subjects classified using BMI criteria for overweight and obesity.

Results: Significant gender differences in percentage body fat were seen, with girls having higher values from the age of 5 years. Girls had 3.8% higher percentage body fat at 5 years of age increasing to 12.9% at 18 years of age. Significant ethnic differences were found, with South Asian girls and boys having the highest percentage body fat from 5 and 7 years of age, respectively. These differences increased with age, being most significant in the teenage years. Although South Asian girls and boys were over-represented in the group containing children with more than 25% body fat (p<0.0001, ² test), African-Caribbean subjects were more likely to be classified as obese using BMI criteria.

Conclusions: There are clear gender and ethnic differences in percentage body fat in British schoolchildren which may relate to known differences in the risk of type 2 diabetes in adolescence and adulthood. BMI criteria for defining overweight and obesity do not accurately identify ethnic differences in body fat.

Keywords: body composition; ethnic groups; body mass index

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Atoms

Howard Bauchner
Arch. Dis. Child. 2007 92: 831. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Li, C., Ford, E. S, Zhao, G., Balluz, L. S, Giles, W. H (2009). Estimates of body composition with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in adults. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 90: 1457-1465 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Gundersen, C., Garasky, S., Lohman, B. J. (2009). Food Insecurity Is Not Associated with Childhood Obesity as Assessed Using Multiple Measures of Obesity. J. Nutr. 139: 1173-1178 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Balakrishnan, R., Webster, P., Sinclair, D. (2008). Trends in overweight and obesity among 5-7-year-old White and South Asian children born between 1991 and 1999. J Public Health (Oxf) 30: 139-144 [Abstract] [Full Text]