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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 May 1.
Published in final edited form as: Obstet Gynecol. 2010 May;115(5):982–988. doi: 10.1097/AOG.0b013e3181da9423

Table 3.

Obesity rate in our study population – based on WHO, NIH, and race/ethnicity specific BMI cutoff values

Race/ethnicity Actual obesity rate
based on WHO
criterion standard
(95% CI)a 		Obesity rate
based on NIH’s
BMI cut off value
(95% CI)b 		Obesity rate based
on race/ethnicity
specific BMI cut
off value (95% CI)c
White 58.7 (51.4 – 65.8) 28.0 (21.8 – 35.0) 52.9 (45.5 – 60.2)
Black 60.4 (52.3 – 68.0) 46.5 (38.6 – 54.6) 52.8 (44.8 – 60.8)
Hispanic 69.1 (62.3 – 75.3) 37.7 (31.1 – 44.7) 61.4 (54.4 – 68.0)
Overall 63.1 (58.9 – 67.1) 36.9 (32.9 – 41.1) 56.0 (51.8 – 60.2)

WHO=World Health Organization; NIH=National Institute of Health; BMI = Body mass index

a

Based on percent body fat>35%

b

BMI ≥30 kg/m2

c

Cutoff value to define obesity according to the current study:

White: BMI≥25.5 kg/m2

Black: BMI≥28.7 kg/m2

Hispanic: BMI≥26.2 kg/m2