TABLE 2.

Adiposity measures (mean or % ± SE) in 8–19-y-old US children, by sex, age and race-ethnicity: NHANES 2001–2004^1,2

	Both sexes	Boys				Girls
	(n = 5355)	All races (n = 2792)	Whites (n = 796)	Blacks (n = 962)	Mexican Am. (n = 818)	All races (n = 2563)	Whites (n = 742)	Blacks (n = 809)	Mexican Am. (n = 809)
Age (y)	13.8 ± 0.1	13.9 ± 0.1	14.0 ± 0.2	13.7 ± 0.1	13.7 ± 0.1	13.8 ± 0.1	13.9 ± 0.1	13.5 ± 0.1	13.5 ± 0.1
Body fat measures
%BF	28.8 ± 0.2	25.4 ± 0.3	25.7 ± 0.5	22.8 ± 0.2*	27.3 ± 0.3†	32.6 ± 0.2‡	32.5 ± 0.4‡	31.5 ± 0.3‡	33.7 ± 0.3†‡
%BF Z-score	0.00 ± 0.03	0.00 ± 0.04	0.06 ± 0.05	−0.48 ± 0.03*	0.25 ± 0.04†	0.00 ± 0.03	−0.01 ± 0.05	−0.17 ± 0.04*‡	0.20 ± 0.05*†
BF ≥75th percentile (%)3	28.0 ± 1.2	29.5 ± 1.6	30.5 ± 2.2	19.7 ± 1.4*	36.8 ± 1.9†	26.4 ± 1.5	24.8 ± 2.1	24.6 ± 1.3	33.1 ± 2.2†
Anthropometric measures
BMI Z-score	0.01 ± 0.03	0.01 ± 0.03	0.01 ± 0.05	−0.05 ± 0.04	0.12 ± 0.04†	0.01 ± 0.03	−0.06 ± 0.05	0.25 ± 0.03*‡	0.04 ± 0.05†
WC Z-score	0.01 ± 0.03	0.01 ± 0.03	0.08 ± 0.04	−0.34 ± 0.03*	0.18 ± 0.04†	0.01 ± 0.04	0.00 ± 0.06	−0.01 ± 0.03‡	0.10 ± 0.05
WHtR Z-score	0.00 ± 0.03	0.00 ± 0.03	0.05 ± 0.05	−0.43 ± 0.04*	0.29 ± 0.05*†	0.00 ± 0.04	−0.04 ± 0.06	−0.08 ± 0.03‡	0.23 ± 0.05*†
TSF Z-score	0.00 ± 0.03	0.00 ± 0.03	0.07 ± 0.05	−0.31 ± 0.03*	0.12 ± 0.03†	0.00 ± 0.03	0.02 ± 0.05	−0.02 ± 0.04‡	0.00 ± 0.04

Abbreviations: %BF, percentage body fat = fat mass/body weight (%); BMI, body mass index (kg/m²); TSF, triceps skinfold thickness (mm); WC, waist circumference (cm); WHtR, waist-to-height ratio = waist circumference/ height.

¹Data were weighted to represent the 40 million US children.

²Age- and sex-specific Z-scores and percentiles were estimated using the LMS curve-fitting procedure based on the NHANES 2001–2004 population.

³High %BF: %BF ≥ 75^th percentile (%BF Z-score ≥ 0.674) of the NHANES 2001–2004 population. %BF was assessed using DXA.

^*Differed from whites within sex

^†differed from blacks within sex

^‡differed from boys within race-ethnicity (P < 0.05; χ² or t test).