The purpose was to assess associations between body mass index (BMI) and body fat in a multinational sample of 9–11-year-old children. The sample included 7265 children from countries ranging in human development. Total body fat (TBF) and percentage body fat (PBF) were measured with a Tanita SC-240 scale and BMI z-scores (BMIz) and percentiles were computed using reference data from the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, respectively. Mean PBF at BMIz values of −1, 0 and +1 were estimated using multilevel models. Correlations between BMI and TBF were >0.90 in all countries, and correlations between BMI and PBF ranged from 0.76 to 0.96. Boys from India had higher PBF than boys from several other countries at all levels of BMIz. Kenyan girls had lower levels of PBF than girls from several other countries at all levels of BMIz. Boys and girls from Colombia had higher values of PBF at BMIz=−1, whereas Colombian boys at BMIz 0 and +1 also had higher values of PBF than boys in other countries. Our results show a consistently high correlation between BMI and adiposity in children from countries representing a wide range of human development.

目的是评估9-11岁儿童的跨国样本中的体重指数（BMI）与体内脂肪之间的关联。样本包括来自人类发展程度不同国家的7265名儿童。使用Tanita SC-240秤和BMI z测量总身体脂肪（TBF）和身体脂肪百分比（PBF）使用世界卫生组织和美国疾病控制与预防中心的参考数据分别计算-得分（BMIz）和百分位。使用多层模型估算BMIz值为-1、0和+1的平均PBF。在所有国家中，BMI与TBF之间的相关性均> 0.90，而BMI与PBF之间的相关性介于0.76至0.96之间。在BMIz的各个水平上，印度男孩的PBF均高于其他几个国家的男孩。肯尼亚女孩的BBF水平低于其他几个国家的女孩。来自哥伦比亚的男孩和女孩在BMIz = -1时的PBF值较高，而处于BMIz 0和+1的哥伦比亚男孩的PBF值也比其他国家的男孩高。