Clinical measures of adiposity and percentage fat loss: Which measure most accurately reflects fat loss and what should we aim for?

Abstract

Objective: To determine which clinical measure of childhood obesity should be monitored to best reflect change in adiposity in a weight management programme and estimate the degree of change needed to be relatively certain of fat reduction. Subjects: 92 obese children with a mean (range) age of 12.8 (6.9-18.9) years and a mean body mass index standard deviation score (BMI SDS) of +3.38 (+2.27 to +4.47) attending a hospital-based clinic on a regular, 3 monthly basis. Measurements: Pairs of weight and height measured up to 2.41 years apart used to derive BMI as kg/m2, and adjusted for age and gender to give weight and BMI SDS (BMI-z score) using British 1990 Growth Reference Data. Contemporane..