Distribution of Tri-Ponderal Mass Index and its Relation to Body Mass Index in Children and Adolescents Aged 10 to 20 Years

Context. Body mass index percentiles are widely used to determine overweight and obesity status in children and adolescents. Their limitations in clinical settings can be addressed. Objective. Reference ranges for the tri-ponderal mass index percentiles of Korean children and adolescents are presented for a comparison of their clinical variables with those of body mass index. Design. Cross-sectional study. Setting. Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2007-2016. Patients. Korean children and adolescents aged 10 to 20 years. Main Outcome Measures. The age- and sex-specific least mean square parameters (skewness, median, and coefficient of variation) for the tri-ponderal mass index of 9749 subjects aged 10 to 20 years. Results. The factors associated with metabolic syndrome, except diastolic blood pressure, were more likely to be worse in the subjects with tri-ponderal mass index values indicative of overweight status than in those with normal tri-ponderal mass index values. Body mass index tends to underestimate obesity-related comorbidities more than tri-ponderal mass index does. Conclusion. The tri-ponderal mass index standard deviation score may be advantageous when defining overweight and obesity in children and adolescents.