A preliminary study of the indices of obesity among a select group of apparently healthy Caribbean subjects.

The purpose of this study was to assess the anthropometric indices of obesity among apparently healthy Caribbean subjects who have the potentials of living an affluent lifestyle. One hundred and eleven (38 males, 73 females) young adults aged between 17 and 38 years participated in the study. Subjects provided information on age, ethnic group, educational attainment, occupation, and previous record of body mass index (BMI) and family history of diabetes mellitus in a self-administered research questionnaire. Waist and hip circumferences (cm), weight (kg) and height (m) were measured. Subsequently, BMI and waist-to-hip ratio (W/H) were calculated. The majority of the subjects (83%) had never measured their BMI. Although the male subjects were significantly taller and heavier than the females (p < 0.01), there was no significant difference in the prevalence rates of obesity between the male and female subjects (p > 0.05). In this preliminary study there was a trend for more females than males to be underweight (BMI < 20 kg/m2). The male subjects had significantly higher waist circumference than the females (p < 0.01), but both genders had a similar percentage of male and female subjects with increased waist circumference (p > 0.05). The limitations of this study are its small size and self selection bias and hence the results obtained must be interpreted with caution. We suggest that assessment of body mass index should be incorporated in the routine clinical measurements of all patients to facilitate early identification, evaluation and treatment of overweight and obesity.