Connection of Body Mass index with other obesity measures in children 7 to 13 years old

There is a great number of obesity definitions, but the most general one is that obesity (lat. obesitas) is a chronic illness (an ill condition), which is manifested by excessive accumulation of fat in the body and increase of body weight. The aim of this study was to determine connection of BMI, as one of standard indicators of overweight, and other obesity measures, which are the waist circumferences, waist-hip ration and waist-to-height ratio in children. The sample consisted of 346 subjects of age 7 to 13 (155 boys and 191 girls). Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used in this study, which showed that the measures of obesity of waist circumferences and the waist-to-height ratio had a positive correlation with BMI in boys (0.518-0.947) and girls (0.585-0.981). By using MANOVA analysis it was determined that maturation statically significally affects the measures of obesity in boys and girls (girls Wilks’ Lambda = 0.201, F =11.873, p<0.01; boys Wilks’ Lambda = 0.209, F = 9.224, p<0.01). Waist circumferences and waist-to-height ratio can be used as valid methods in the assessment of obesity.