PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Shaw, Nicholas J
AU  - Crabtree, Nicola J
AU  - Kibirige, Mohammed S
AU  - Fordham, John N
TI  - Ethnic and gender differences in body fat in British schoolchildren as measured by DXA
AID  - 10.1136/adc.2007.117911
DP  - 2007 Oct 01
TA  - Archives of Disease in Childhood
PG  - 872--875
VI  - 92
IP  - 10
4099  - http://adc.bmj.com/content/92/10/872.short
4100  - http://adc.bmj.com/content/92/10/872.full
SO  - Arch Dis Child2007 Oct 01; 92
AB  - 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, χ2 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.