Relationship between body mass index and body composition in adolescents of Asian Indian origin and their peers

Abstract

The aim was to compare the relationship between body composition and body size in two subgroups with different metabolic risk. Body-mass index z-scores (BMIZ), bicipital, tricipital, subscapular and iliac thicknesses were determined in 178 India-originating Guadeloupian (IOG) adolescents and 481 controls of other origins. Various equations were tested in a regression approach to fit the relationship between BMIZ and iliac thickness, and BMIZ and sum of skinfold thickness. A shift towards higher iliac thickness for a given BMIZ was observed in IOG adolescents. This supports the idea that the relationship between BMI and risk for non-communicable diseases is ethnicity-dependant. © 2012 The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.