Varying optimal power for height-standardisation of childhood weight, fat mass and fat-free mass across the obesity epidemic
Authors' conclusion
Due to increases in the standard deviation of weight and FM during the obesity epidemic, optimal height powers needed to standardise childhood weight and FM varied by birth year, sex, and age. Adiposity indices using a uniform height power mean different things for different birth cohort groups, sexes, and ages thus should be interpreted with caution. Alternative methods to account for height in epidemiological analyses are needed.
Study context
- Population
- Schoolchildren aged 7, 10 and 13 years, born 1930–1996, Copenhagen School Health Records Register
- Participants
- 391,801 participants
- Outcome
- Sex- and age-specific optimal height powers for weight and fat mass (log-log regression), stratified by decade of birth
Methodological detailspopulation-based
- Population-based
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Optimal height powers at 7 years by birth decade and sex
- Weight, boys born 1930-39
- 2.20 (95% CI 2.19-2.22)
- Weight, girls born 1930-39
- 2.28 (95% CI 2.26-2.30)
- Weight, boys born 1990-96
- 2.82 (95% CI 2.76-2.87)
- Weight, girls born 1990-96
- 2.92 (95% CI 2.87-2.97)
- Fat mass (FM), boys born 1930-39
- 2.46 (95% CI 2.42-2.51)
- FM, girls born 1930-39
- 2.58 (95% CI 2.53-2.63)
- FM, boys born 1990-96
- 3.89 (95% CI 3.75-4.02)
- FM, girls born 1990-96
- 3.93 (95% CI 3.80-4.06)
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Height powers at 10 years
- Powers for weight and FM higher at 10 than at 7 years within birth cohort groups, with similar increases across groups at both ages
Height powers at 13 years
- Powers for weight and FM initially increased with birth year, then declined from the 1970s/80s
Original publication
Varying optimal power for height-standardisation of childhood weight, fat mass and fat-free mass across the obesity epidemic. Int J Obes (Lond). Published 3 September 2024. doi:10.
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