P Chaudhary, D Pemmasani, A S Friederich, C Nailescu
Overweight and obesity were common in KT AYA recipients. Cardiovascular risks are common. The BMI-based method appeared to possibly overestimate obesity, although statistical significance was not attained, likely due to the small sample size. Further studies are needed to confirm if %BF is more accurate in determining obesity compared to BMI in this population.
PURPOSE: Obesity is defined by body mass index (BMI), a poor marker of adiposity that does not take into account sex differences. It was recently shown in a large database of adults that percentage of body fat (%BF) can also be used to define clinically relevant overweight/obese status with sex-specific cut-offs. This definition was never tested in adolescent and young adult (AYA) kidney transplant (KT) recipients.
METHODS: We compared the %BF method of defining obesity with the BMI-based method in a population of AYAs belonging to a KT transition clinic. The %BF was measured using a total body composition scale (Body Composition Analyzer, Tanita Corporation, Tokyo) based on the bioelectrical impedance analysis.
RESULTS: Thirty-five patients (18 females, 17 males; mean age 19.5 ± 2.5 years) were enrolled. Hypertension was present in 54.3%; metabolic syndrome in 25.7%. BMI classified 42.9% [95% CI: 28.0-59.1%] as overweight/obese vs. 28.6% [95% CI: 16.3-45.1%] by %BF (McNemar p = 0.125). %BF was significantly higher in females (30.1 ± 6.1%) than males (23.3 ± 7.9%; p < 0.01). BMI-%BF correlation was stronger in males (r = 0.903) than females (r = 0.777).
CONCLUSIONS: Overweight and obesity were common in KT AYA recipients. Cardiovascular risks are common. The BMI-based method appeared to possibly overestimate obesity, although statistical significance was not attained, likely due to the small sample size. Further studies are needed to confirm if %BF is more accurate in determining obesity compared to BMI in this population.