Appropriate Cut-off Level of BMI for Thai Adults - เกณฑ์ที่เหมาะสมของดัชนีมวลกายสำหรับประชากรผู้ใหญ่ไทย

Abstract

There are different cut-off levels of Body Mass Index (BMI) for cardiovascular risk factors (CVR) that commonly used in Thailand. This study was aimed to determine the appropriate BMI cut-off level for health screening and education for Thai adults. There were 127 out of 387 teachers of at least 35 years of age in Phuket participated in the study. Participants completed self-administered questionnaires, and underwent physical examination, blood pressure measurements, and had blood drawn for lipid profile. To adjust for age ( ≥ 50 versus < 50 years) and gender, multiple logistic regression analysis was used. Participants with BMI ≥ 23 kg/m² were associated with high total CHOL (total CHOL ≥ 240 mg/dl) 2.7 times (95% CI: 1.2, 6.1), high low-density-lipoprotein ( ≥ 160 mg/dl) 5.1 times (1.5, 16.0), low high-density-lipoprotein (40 mg/dl in male and < 50 mg/dl in female) 5.4 times (2.3, 12.6), high triglyceride ( ≥ 200 mg/dl) 5.4 times (1.4, 20.6), and high total cholesterol to HDL ratio (> 5.0) 7.2 times (1.5, 34.1) respectively. The BMI of 23 kg/m² may be an appropriate cut-off point for being overweight for Thai adults. Further studies in other regions and other populations of Thailand are needed to support this finding.