De Onis 2007 Bull World Health Organization

de Onis M, Onyango AW, Borghi E, Siyam A, Nishida C, Siekmann J (2007) Development of a WHO growth reference for school-aged children and adolescents. Bull World Health Organization 85:660-7.

» PMID: 18026621 Open Access

de Onis M, Onyango AW, Borghi E, Siyam A, Nishida C, Siekmann J (2007) Bull World Health Organization

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To construct growth curves for school-aged children and adolescents that accord with the WHO Child Growth Standards for preschool children and the body mass index (BMI) cut-offs for adults.

METHODS: Data from the 1977 National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)/WHO growth reference (1-24 years) were merged with data from the under-fives growth standards' cross-sectional sample (18-71 months) to smooth the transition between the two samples. State-of-the-art statistical methods used to construct the WHO Child Growth Standards (0-5 years), i.e. the Box-Cox power exponential (BCPE) method with appropriate diagnostic tools for the selection of best models, were applied to this combined sample.

FINDINGS: The merged data sets resulted in a smooth transition at 5 years for height-for-age, weight-for-age and BMI-for-age. For BMI-for-age across all centiles the magnitude of the difference between the two curves at age 5 years is mostly 0.0 kg/m(2) to 0.1 kg/m(2). At 19 years, the new BMI values at +1 standard deviation (SD) are 25.4 kg/m(2) for boys and 25.0 kg/m(2) for girls. These values are equivalent to the overweight cut-off for adults (> or = 25.0 kg/m(2)). Similarly, the +2 SD value (29.7 kg/m(2) for both sexes) compares closely with the cut-off for obesity (> or = 30.0 kg/m(2)).

CONCLUSION: The new curves are closely aligned with the WHO Child Growth Standards at 5 years, and the recommended adult cut-offs for overweight and obesity at 19 years. They fill the gap in growth curves and provide an appropriate reference for the 5 to 19 years age group.

• Bioblast editor: Gnaiger E

Labels: MiParea: Gender, Developmental biology  Pathology: Obesity 

Organism: Human 

Preparation: Intact organism 

BMI, BME 

From BMI to BME

Figure 1: Growth curves and allometry of body mass and height in girls and boys from 5 to 19 years (WHO 2006). (a) and (b): Height or body mass as a function of age. The curves are very similar up to 13 years. (c) and (d) Body mass or body mass index, BMI°, as a function of height. Three allometric phases are indicated by the shaded areas. The BMI does not yield an index that is independent of height. This is achieved by the body mass excess, BME, which relates the actual body mass, M, to the reference body mass, M°, at a given height, BME=M/M°.