Examination of Screening Method for Obese School Children and Adolescents in Okinawa and Its Application

• Published in: Japanese Journal of Health and Human Ecology Vol. 64; no. 4; pp. 217 - 233
• Main Author: SHINYA, Nobuo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Japanese Society of Health and Human Ecology 1998
• Subjects: obesity, screening, standard body weight, approximate equation, computer program, school children and adolescents, Okinawa
• ISSN: 0368-9395; 1882-868X
• DOI: 10.3861/jshhe.64.217

The data of body height and weight of school children and adolescents, numbering 37, 446 males and 35, 567 females in the 1995 school year and 42, 971 males and 40, 986 females in the 1996 school year, in the reports which were submitted to the Okinawa Pref ectural Board of Education, were examined for development of screeningmethod for obese individuals. Since there were no significant differences in themeasurements between males and females in any age groups for both school years, the data were pooled for analyses. This study also aimed to develop personalcomputer-based program for this purpose. The major results of this study were as follows: 1. The distributions of body height for males or females in all age groups resemble the normal distribution pattern whereas those of body weight for either sexin most age groups were skewed from normality even after the logarithmic transformation was conducted. 2. The standard body weight was separately decided for each group by gender, age and stature (1 cm in interval) by using the median which was unlikely affected by the outlier values. 3. Of four regression models, i.e. simple regression, power regression and two kinds of polynominal regressions (quadratic and cubic equations), for calculation of the standard body weight, power regression was judged most applicable from the magnitudes of coefficient of determination and coefficient of variation and from the simplicity in calculation. The regression equations are as follows: ln(Y) = ln(a) + b × ln(X) → Y = aXb Using body weight (W) and height (H), ln(W) = ln(a) + b × ln(H) → W = aHb 4.The comparison between the standard weight values obtained by this methodand those by the existing methods revealed significant differences for most age groups. Thus, it was concluded that the screening method specific to Okinawan school children and adolescents is needed. 5. The computer program which was developed in this study is highly suitable for screening obese children and adolescents, arbitrarily changing the standard values and presenting the outputs for classmate groups or individuals. The access to this program is possible with addition of a menu to the program called "Health" which was previously established by the author to synthesize physical checkup data in Okinawa.