It is important to adequately evaluate children’s obesity to detect and prevent obesity in infants at an early stage. By using 474 preschool children as subjects, this study examined the reliability and objectivity of physique indexes that claim to easily judge obesity on the basis of physique characteristics. The physique indexes consisted of 11 items including two photographs. Reliability was examined by two evaluations of one tester (test－retest method), and objectivity was examined by evaluating two testers. The agreement degree of the evaluations was examined by the kappa (κ) coefficient. Five items (two apple－shaped items, a large upper arm, large thigh, and double chin) and the two photographs had high κ coefficients. The physique indexes were found to have high reliability and objectivity because their coefficients were high. In conclusion, it was found that the above physique indexes are effective in easily judging obesity in children.
