Arch. Endocrinol. Metab. 2016;60(6):507-509
Is body mass index still a good tool for obesity evaluation?
DOI: 10.1590/2359-3997000000232
Obesity has been increasing worldwide during the last decades (,). According to the World Health Organization (WHO 2014), 17.3% of Brazilians are obese (). The diagnosis of obesity has huge consequences as this disease is associated with several comorbidities like diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases and also increased mortality (). Considering the pandemic of obesity, there is a need of a simple, reliable and low-cost tool for obesity evaluation.
The definition of obesity is based on the percentage of fat mass excess related to the total body weight (). The body fat changes along aging and gender. Mean percentage of body fat may ranges from 22.9% at age 16-19 years to 30.9% at age 60-79 years in males, while mean percentage of body fat may ranges from 32.0% at age 8-11 years to 42.4% at age 60-79 years, in females (). Therefore, how to perform this specific diagnosis of body fat excess?
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