Assessment of the performance of the body mass index in diagnosing obesity in community-dwelling older adults in Latin American and Caribbean countries.

Background: The body mass index (BMI) ≥30 kg/m is the universally accepted cut-off point for defining obesity; however, its accuracy in classifying obesity in older adults is poorly understood.

Objectives: To assess the performance of the BMI cut-off point ≥30 kg/m in classifying obesity in older adults, using the fat mass index (FMI) and fat mass percentage (FM%) as reference criteria; and to establish region- and sex-specific BMI-based cut-off points to classify obesity in older adults.

Methods: The present study is a secondary analysis derived from a cross-sectional project that included a sample of 1463 older adults from ten Latin American and Caribbean countries.