Pediatric Obesity · 2 authors, 3 centres
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This study developed and validated an improved statistical algorithm to accurately convert child overweight and obesity prevalence rates from one BMI reference (e.g., WHO) to another (e.g., IOTF, CDC). The revised algorithm, using paired overweight and obesity prevalence, explained 96.7% of the variance in prevalence across 2320 comparisons.
The original algorithm assumed a constant difference on the z-score scale, but the revised version used paired overweight and obesity prevalence to estimate a group-specific slope (b). The central result was that the improved algorithm performed much better than the original, with a residual standard deviation of 0.8% (explaining 96.7% of the baseline variance). The method is reversible and generalizable, as each target group calibrates itself. Limitations include that the algorithm cannot be applied to thinness prevalence due to having only one cut-off per reference, and it requires non-zero and different prevalence rates for overweight and obesity.
