ArticleWorld journal of pediatrics : WJP2018
Prevalence of obesity in Italian adolescents: does the use of different growth charts make the difference?
Article in World journal of pediatrics : WJP, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- Birth and Health Outcomes of Children Migrating With Parents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2022Pooled it
- Prevalence and trends of underweight in European children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European journal of nutrition · 2021Pooled it
- A School-Based Intervention Program to Reduce Weight Stigma in Adolescents.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Eating habits and nutrition status of Nigerian school children in rural and urban areas (NigeriaLINX pilot project).Heliyon · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSince 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.
methodsThe height, weight and body mass index were expressed as standard deviation score (SDS) using Italian (ISPED-2006) and UK (UK-1990) charts. The classification of UW/OW/OB was computed with the IOTF international cut-offs, and thresholds were identified as centiles corresponding to BMI values of 18.5/25.0/30.0 kg/m
resultsAbout 30% participants had non-Italian parents, above all from North-Africa and Romania. Referring to the UK-1990 charts, all groups showed negative mean SDS for height, and positive SDS for weight and BMI. Referring to the ISPED-2006 charts, all mean SDS were negative. Percentage of UW individuals was higher in accordance with ISPED-2006 than with UK-1990 charts, whereas percentages of OW/OB were higher with UK-1990 than ISPED-2006 charts. The results obtained using IOFT cut-offs were similar to UK-1990 cut-offs. These results were due to the different shape of age-dependent cut-off centiles. Independently by the parental origin, the percentages of adolescents classified as OW/OB were closer to the expected values using the ISPED-2006 then the UK-1990 cut-offs. The results suggested the use of the Italian references for adolescents with immigrant parents.
conclusionThe use of local charts seems more appropriate at least in Italian adolescents in the age range studied.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.