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Anthropometric Indicators to Estimate Percentage of Body Fat: A Comparison Using Cross-Sectional Data of Children and Adolescents in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

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Abstract

Objectives

To compare the association between waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), body mass index (BMI), and percentage of body fat (PBF) measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) method in children and adolescents of Vietnam.

Methods

This cross-sectional study included 153 children and adolescents aged 6–18 y old in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Correlations between indicators were determined using Pearson correlation coefficient (r). Linear regression was carried out with PBF as dependent variable to test the further association of potential indicators.

Results

The strongest correlation was found between PBF and WHtR in all pubertal stages (0.712; 0.556; 0.638 in male; 0.635; 0.799; 0.611 in female, respectively). The regression analysis indicated that WHtR was the most effective estimator of PBF (\({{R}}_{{adj}}^{2}\) = 0.69, RMSE = 4.54 for male; \({{R}}_{{adj}}^{2}\) = 0.50, RMSE = 4.34 for female) in the model including pubertal stage variable for each gender.

Conclusions

The results support the use of WHtR as an effective indicator for detecting adiposity in Vietnamese children and adolescents.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support provided by the school principals, class teachers, and parent of participants, who created favorable conditions for collecting data protocol. They als0 thank Dr Thanh V. Kim, Dr Tam M. Do, Dr. Thanh T.K. Tran, and other colleagues from the Faculty of Public Health, Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine, pediatric doctors from the Department of Neurology and Endocrinology, Children Hospital No. 1, technicians at Diagnostic Imaging Department of 115 people hospital who provided invaluable help during follow-up data collection.

Funding

The survey was funded by a grant from the Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Public Health, Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine, Ho Chi Minh City, 72510, Vietnam

    Hong K. Tang

  2. Department of General Planning, Hospital of Tropical Diseases, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Chi T.C. Nguyen

  3. Department of Outreach and International, Childrens Hospital 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Ngoc H.T. Vo

Authors
  1. Hong K. Tang
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  2. Chi T.C. Nguyen
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  3. Ngoc H.T. Vo
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Contributions

HKT participated in the design of the study and the analytical strategy and revised the manuscript for important intellectual content. CN and NV participated in the design, collecting data, carried out the study, performed the statistical analysis, and drafted the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. HKT will act as the guarantor for this paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hong K. Tang.

Ethics declarations

Ethics Approval

The ethics committee for Medical research of Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine (PNTUM) approved the study (Decision No. 2300/2019/HD-TDHYKPNT). Also the study was approved by the Education Department and the school principals at each of the selected schools. Written consent was obtained from both students and their parents before the data collection.

Conflict of Interest

None.

Consent to Participate

Informed consent was sent and signed by participant parents or legal guardians. All subjects were also asked to give verbal assent immediately before examination.

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Tang, H.K., Nguyen, C.T. & Vo, N.H. Anthropometric Indicators to Estimate Percentage of Body Fat: A Comparison Using Cross-Sectional Data of Children and Adolescents in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Indian J Pediatr 89, 857–864 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12098-021-03882-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12098-021-03882-7

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