Comparison of Anthropometric Measures in US Military Personnel in the Classification of Overweight and Obesity

• Published in: Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) Md.), 2020-02, Vol.28 (2), p.362-370
• Main Authors: Shams‐White, Marissa M., Chui, Kenneth, Deuster, Patricia A., McKeown, Nicola M., Must, Aviva
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age; Body composition; Body fat; Body measurements; Health risk assessment; Military personnel; Obesity; Physical fitness; Social networks; Womens health
• ISSN: 1930-7381; 1930-739X
• DOI: 10.1002/oby.22675

Objective This study aimed to determine (1) the level of agreement between BMI, circumference‐based equation (CBE) measures, waist circumference (WC), and bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) measures and (2) whether BMI, CBE measures, or WC alone or in combination adequately reflects adiposity in military personnel compared with BIA. Methods BMI from measured height and weight (using military overweight cutoffs in men [BMI ≥ 27.5 kg/m2] and World Health Organization overweight cutoffs [BMI ≥ 25.0 kg/m2]), BMI body fat percentage (BF%), WC, CBE BF%, and BIA BF% were collected. Respondents (N = 389, 78% men) were categorized with normal fat versus overweight, obesity, or overfat. Levels of agreement and standard screening performance measures were compared between anthropometric measures and BIA. Results World Health Organization BMI and BIA BF% classified the most men and women with overweight/obesity; WC with BMI (BMI + WC) and WC alone classified the fewest men and women with overweight/obesity. Levels of agreement were all statistically significant and highest for BMI (men: Cohen's κ = 0.711; women: Cohen's κ = 0.814) and lowest for WC and BMI + WC (all Cohen's κ ≤ 0.270). BMI + CBE performed best overall (sensitivity = 50.9%, false discovery rate = 5.4%). Conclusions Our findings support BMI + CBE as an easy‐to‐implement combination to assess adiposity in the military.