American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 27, 706-711, Copyright © 1974 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc.

An obesity index for six-month-old children

Anthropometric obesity indices were evaluated on the basis of discriminate analysis using select groups of extremely lean and obese infants. Using multiple regression techniques with 22 variables, we found that the three-variable linear equations including weight gain since birth, waist circumference, and suprailiac skin fold gave the most discriminating measure of obesity as indicated by the widest separation of predicted scores and a multiple correlation of 0.98.

The best single indicator of obesity at 6 months of age was found to be weight gain from birth to 6 months followed by the sum of the skin folds. Even a simple biceps circumference or triceps skin fold were found to be superior to the more traditional height/weight ratios more frequently used to identify obesity in children.

The three-variable formula was then applied to the measurements of the 448 infants presently being studied for associations between early nutritional factors and obesity. The resultant scores ranged from –0.65 to + 1.89 and had a group mean of 0.48 ± 0.41. Using this method of obesity scoring, one is able to classify each child and assign actual obesity scores, thus facilitating further analysis of data.