A cross-sectional examination of growth indicators from Thai adolescent girls: Evidence of obesity among Thai youth?

Background: Few studies have examined growth data from adolescent girls in Southeast Asia and almost none have been carried out in Thailand. Thus this study examines growth data from Thai adolescent girls.

Aim: Cross-sectional growth data from a sample of Thai girls were compared to reference data from healthy well-nourished girls. It is hypothesized that the reference girls will be taller and heavier than the Thai girls; however, the growth indicators will also indicate that obesity is present among Thai girls.

Subjects and methods: Anthropometric and age at menarche data were collected from a sample of 319 adolescent girls ages 11–17 years living in suburban Thailand.

Results: Thai girls are heavier than the reference girls at ages 11–13 years yet are shorter and lighter than the reference girls at ages 14–17 years. The data also reveal that 18.4% of the girls are overweight or obese as classified by the CDC BMI-for-age percentile growth curves.

Conclusion: The findings suggest the presence of overweight and obesity among this adolescent Thai population. These data may reflect the impact of the improved economic situation of Thailand as well as the impact of body image concerns among these young girls.