Waist circumference and waist-to-height ratio are better predictors of cardiovascular disease risk factors in children than body mass index.
BACKGROUND
Visceral adipose tissue is associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease risk factors and morbidity from cardiovascular diseases. Waist measurement and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) have been used as proxy measures of visceral adipose tissue, mainly in adults.


OBJECTIVE
To validate body mass index (BMI), waist circumference and WHtR as predictors for the presence of cardiovascular disease risk factors in children of Greek-Cypriot origin.


METHODS
A total of 1,037 boys and 950 girls with mean age 11.4+/-0.4 y were evaluated. Dependent variables for the study were total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholestrol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure.


RESULTS
When children were divided into two groups according to the 75th percentile for BMI, waist circumference and WHtR, all dependent variables had higher mean values in the highest percentile groups in WHtR groups and almost all variables in BMI and waist circumference groups. Adjusted odds ratios for predicting pathological values of cardiovascular disease risk factors were slightly higher for the highest WHtR group for predicting lipid and lipoprotein pathological values and for the highest BMI groups in predicting high blood pressure measurement. Using stepwise multiple regression analysis to explain the variance of the dependent variables, waist circumference was the most significant predictor for all variables both for boys and girls, whereas BMI had the lowest predictive value for the detection of cardiovascular disease risk factors.


CONCLUSIONS
Waist circumference and WHtR are better predictors of cardiovascular disease risk factors in children than BMI. Further studies are necessary to determine the cutoff points for these indices for an accurate prediction of risk factors.
Savva
S C
SC
Research and Education Program of Child Health, Cyprus. samar1@cytanet.com.cy
Tornaritis
M
M
Savva
M E
ME
Kourides
Y
Y
Panagi
A
A
Silikiotou
N
N
Georgiou
C
C
Kafatos
A
A
D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D000293:Adolescent; D000886:Anthropometry; D001794:Blood Pressure; D001823:Body Composition; D001824:Body Constitution; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D006115:Greece; D006801:Humans; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D009017:Morbidity; D012307:Risk Factors; D014781:Viscera
D008055:Lipids