title: Anthropometric indicators as predictors of high blood pressure in adolescents.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hypertension is related to increased body fat, which can be evaluated by anthropometric indicators.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the predictive power of anthropometric indicators and establish their cutoff points as discriminators of high blood pressure.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study with a sample of 660 adolescents aged 14 to 19 including 51.9% girls. We considered the following anthropometric indicators: body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, waist-to-height ratio and conicity index. High blood pressure was characterized by values above the 90th percentile for systolic and/or diastolic blood pressure. To identify predictors of high blood pressure, we adopted the analysis of receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC) with a confidence interval of 95%. Subsequently, we identified the cutoff points with their relevant sensitivities and specificities.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The areas under the ROC curves with confidence intervals were: boys--waist circumference = 0.80 (0.72 to 0.89); BMI = 0.79 (0.68 to 0.89), waist-to-height ratio = 0.77 (0.66 to 0.88); conicity index = 0.69 (0.56 to 0.81) and for girls--waist circumference = 0.96 (0.92 to 1.00); BMI 0.95 (0.87 to 1.00), waist-to-height ratio = 0.93 (0.85 to 1.00); conicity index = 0.74 (0.50 to 0.98). The different cutoff points of anthropometric indicators with better predictive power and their relevant sensitivities and specificities were identified.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although the waist-to-height ratio and BMI have shown good areas under the ROC curve, we suggest the use of waist circumference to predict high blood pressure.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, SC, Brazil. carmembeck@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Carmem Cristina
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Beck
authors.forename: Adair da Silva
authors.initials: Ada S
authors.lastname: Lopes
authors.forename: Francisco José Gondim
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Pitanga
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001827:Body Height / Q000502:physiology*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012372:ROC Curve; D012016:Reference Values; D055105:Waist Circumference / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult