Prevalence of obesity in Italian adolescents: does the use of different growth charts make the difference?

Background: Since populations are becoming increasingly multi-ethnic, the use of local or international charts is a matter of debate. This study aimed to evaluate how the choice of cut-off thresholds affected prevalence of underweight (UW), overweight (OW), obesity (OB) in 1200 11-12-year Italian adolescents, and how their somatic growth depended on parental origin.

Methods: The height, weight and body mass index were expressed as standard deviation score (SDS) using Italian (ISPED-2006) and UK (UK-1990) charts.