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1 - Demography of obesity

from Section 1 - Trends and determinants of obesity in women of reproductive age

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2012

By
Maria Regina Torloni ,
Ana Pilar Betrán  and
Mario Merialdi
Edited by
Matthew W. Gillman  and
Lucilla Poston
Matthew W. Gillman
Affiliation:
Harvard Medical School
Lucilla Poston
Affiliation:
King's College London
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Summary

Introduction

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), overweight and obesity are defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that may impair health [1]. Overweight and obesity are usually diagnosed when weight normalized for height, or body mass index (BMI: weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters, kg/m2), exceeds a defined threshold. In 1995, the WHO proposed a BMI classification for adults as a form of diagnosing excess adiposity [2]. According to this classification, individuals are considered overweight when their BMI is ≥25; those between 25 and 29.9 are designated as pre-obese and they are classified as obese when their BMI reaches or exceeds 30kg/m2 (Table 1.1). Many authors also use the term “overweight” to designate pre-obese individuals (BMI 25–29.9), which gives rise to some confusion, unless the specific range of BMI is specified. Although BMI does not directly measure the percentage of body fat, it offers a more accurate assessment of excess adiposity than weight alone. Due to its simplicity, BMI categorization is the preferred obesity measurement for clinicians, public health specialists, and researchers, and is currently used worldwide to track adult overweight and obesity prevalence [3].

Type
Chapter
Information
Maternal Obesity , pp. 1 - 7
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2012

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