Waist circumference for the screening of the metabolic syndrome in children.
OBJECTIVE
To identify the best anthropometric predictor of the metabolic syndrome in children.


METHODS
Screening performance was evaluated in a clinical setting. The study included 140 children: 72 non-obese and 68 with non-syndromal obesity. Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference and triceps/subscapular skinfolds ratio were used as predictor variables, and systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, glucose, uric acid, fasting insulin, triglycerides and HDL-C as metabolic syndrome variables.


RESULTS
The areas under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were 0.849 (95% CI: 0.780, 0.919) for BMI, 0.868 (95% CI: 0.801,0.934) for waist circumference and 0.834 (95% CI: 0.757,0.910) for the triceps/subscapular skinfolds ratio. No statistically significant differences were found for the three areas under the ROC curves. The point on the ROC curve closest to 1 corresponded to the 65th percentile for BMI, to the 70th percentile for waist, and to the 40th percentile for the triceps/subscapular skinfolds ratio.


CONCLUSIONS
Waist circumference seems to be the best predictor of children with the metabolic syndrome in paediatric clinical settings.
Moreno
L A
LA
E. U. Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain. lmoreno@posta.unizar.es
Pineda
I
I
Rodríguez
G
G
Fleta
J
J
Sarría
A
A
Bueno
M
M
D000273:Adipose Tissue; D000293:Adolescent; D000886:Anthropometry; D001824:Body Constitution; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012372:ROC Curve; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity