Regional, age and sexual differences of BMI of the Czech and Slovak adult populations at the end of the 20th century

Nowadays the Body Mass Index (BMI) is used everywhere as the coefficient of normal weight, overweight and obesity. In the years 1987-1988 an anthropometrical survey was carried out in the whole region of the former Czechoslovakia, which was done on 20,232 adult males and females, aged from 18 to more than 70 years. The research was made on the basis of three grade statistical choice and is representative for the entire territory of the Czech and Slovak Republics. Body height and body weight were determined according to Martin & Saller (1957; M 1, M 71). For the assessment of regional differences the whole set of data was divided into 12 separate groups in accordance to the administrative regions existing at that time. Each group was then analyzed considering eleven age classes.