Tehmina Perveen, Seema Ghani.
Estimation of relative fat mass index as an indicator of obesity in reproductive age women at a tertiary care hospital.
Pak J Surg Jan ;36(4):299-304.

Obesity is becoming a greater health concern worldwide. Body Mass Index (BMI) is used widely to classify and measure the obesity. Body Mass Index is a simple tool and can easily be used by clinician and patients but it is unable to differentiate between lean mass and fat mass. Relative Fat Mass (RFM) could be used in daily clinical practice for the evaluation of body composition in healthy or ill patients, as well as to monitor changes in FM%. We conducted this study to validate the equation of Woolcott & Bergman to estimate FM% among reproductive age women from Pakistan as an alternative to Body Mass Index. Objectives: To estimate FM% (relative fat mass) among reproductive age women by using Woolcott & Bergman equation and compare it with Body Mass Index. Material and Methods: We conducted six months observational study on 300 non-pregnant women of reproductive age group (18-45 years) at Hamdard University Hospital. We calculated the Body Mass Index (weight (kg)/height (m2) and relative fat mass by using Woolcott & Bergman equation. SPSS version 23 was used to analyze data, frequencies and percentages are noted, chi-square test applied to see the relationship of relative fat mass with age groups, physical activity and Body Mass Index. P-Value <0.5 is considered significant. Results: We included 300-women of reproductive age group and compare Body Mass Index categories with relative fat mass, we revealed that 63-women with excess fat and 60-women with high fat mass belong to overweight category, similarly 24 with excess fat and 48 with high fat mass belong to obese group. Unexpectedly, we found that 50-women with normal BMI had excess fat and 5 had high fat content. Conclusion: Our study showed that a normal Body Mass Index women may also have excess or high-fat contents and the relative fat mass is a better predictor of whole-body fat percentage as compare to Body Mass Index.

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