Sensibilidade e especificidade de tres criterios diagnosticos de sobrepeso e de obesidade em escolares

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2004

RESUMO

Introduction: There is no consensus for the universal criteria of overweight and obesity diagnosis in children. Due to its simplicity and applicability, the body mass index (BMI) has been the object of several studies aiming at its diagnostic use in pediatrics.Objective: To determine the sensitivity and specificity of three diagnostic criteria of overweight and obesity that use the BMI method in school children.Material and Method: A total of 1595 school children with ages ranging from 6,93 to 10,94 was analyzed. All children had their weight and their height measured. The body composition of the subjects was obtained by means of leg-to-leg bioelectrical impedance analysis. Measurements of sensitivity and specificity of the three diagnostic criteria of overweight and obesity that apply to BMI were assessed (MUST, DALLAL e DIETZ-1991; COLE et al-2000; CDC-2000). To determine the cut-off values for the overweight/obesity, the ROC curve was used. Results: The sensitivity of the three diagnostic methods for determining overweight in girls and boys varied from 79.34 to 82.64 and from 91.30 to 97.39 respectively, while the specificity for this diagnosis varied from 95.05 to 96.78 for the girls and 87.50 to 96.43 for the boys. The sensitivity of variation for the obesity diagnosis was from 27.38 to 51.85 for the girls and for 51.22 to 78.67 for the boys, while the specificity for this diagnosis was from 98.41 to 100 for the girls and from 97.44 to 100 for the boys. Conclusion: The three evaluated methods of diagnosis presented good sensitivity to classify overweight, low sensitivity to diagnose obesity, high specificity for the diagnosis of overweight/obesity. The cut-off point for the body mass index equal or higher than 18.50 for the girls and equal or higher than 20.00 for the boys implies better sensitivity without losing quality in the specificity of this method to diagnose obesity in schoolchildren

ASSUNTO(S)

crianças obesidade obesity obesity in children school age (entrance age) body mass index obesidade em crianças indice de massa corporal

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