COMPARISON OF BODY MASS INDEX AND BODY FAT PERCENTAGE IN THE ASSESSMENT OF OBESITY PREVALENCE AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN PERAK STATE, MALAYSIA

The purpose of this study was to determine the overweight and obesity prevalence in secondary school students in Perak State, Malaysia according to United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) charts of body mass index (BMI) and body fat percentage (BF%). Five hundred and ninety four (594) students with aged 13 to 16 years were participated in this study. Anthropometric indicators including weight, height, BMI and BF% were determined. Overweight and obesity were defined using CDC cut-off. The prevalence of underweight, normal, overweight and obesity in secondary school students according to BMI was 5.31%, 72.6%, 11.13% and 10.96%. The obesity prevalence according to BMI cut-off point was 11.62% in boys and 10.50% in girls while according to BF% cut-off point girls was 10.53% and boys was 7.05%. Both BMI and BF% were associated with determining obesity prevalence however BMI alone do not provide accurate data and obesity prevalence is more influences to BF% value.