title: Waist circumference for the screening of the metabolic syndrome in children.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: E. U. Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain. lmoreno@posta.unizar.es
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Moreno
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pineda
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rodríguez
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fleta
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sarría
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bueno
mesh_terms: 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