Waist-to-height ratio as a screening tool for children with risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
BACKGROUND
Waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) has been recommended as a tool for predicting cardiovascular risk in children. However, there is little evidence about the accuracy of using WHtR as a predictor of disease risk in pre-school children.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the accuracy of waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), waist circumference (WC) and body mass index (BMI) as well as to determine the optimal cut-off values for each of these measures in order to identify pre-school children with cardiovascular risks.


METHODS
This study conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 315 children between 3-4 years of age. Multiple risk factors for cardiovascular disease (MRFCD) were defined as having two or more of the following conditions: HDL-c < 35 mg/dL, LDL-c ≥ 110 mg/dL, triglycerides ≥ 150 mg/dL and systolic and/or diastolic blood pressure ≥ 90(th) percentile.


RESULTS
The accuracy of WHtR in identifying cardiovascular risk in pre-school children was not significantly different compared to BMI or WC, for both sexes. The optimal cut-off measures for predicting cardiovascular risk in boys and girls, respectively, were as follows: 0.51 and 0.49 for WHtR; 0.61 and 0.69 for BMI Z-score; and 51.2 cm and 50.2 cm for WC.


CONCLUSIONS
The data support the use of a 0.5 cut-off value for WHtR to predict cardiovascular risk factors among pre-school children and suggest that using WHtR is comparable to both BMI and WC.
PhD Program in Health Sciences, Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Paula Dal Bó
PD
Campagnolo
Daniel J
DJ
Hoffman
Márcia Regina
MR
Vitolo
D000886:Anthropometry; D001827:Body Height / Q000502:physiology*; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D012372:ROC Curve; D012307:Risk Factors; D055105:Waist Circumference / Q000502:physiology*