title: Self-reported waist circumference: a screening tool for classifying children with overweight/obesity and cardiometabolic risk factor clustering.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objectives of this study were twofold - (i) to assess the agreement between self-reported waist circumference (SRWC) and assessor measured waist circumference (MWC) and (ii) to evaluate the diagnostic ability of SRWC for classifying (i) a clustering of cardiometabolic risk factors (CMRFs) and (ii) overweight/obese status in Hong Kong Chinese children aged 6-18 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study with cluster random sampling was conducted. A self-administrated questionnaire, which included demographic data, body weight, body height and waist circumference, was given to children to bring home for completion. Children were asked to return the questionnaire and fast themselves for at least 8 h on the day of the survey. Anthropometric measurements and blood pressure were taken by trained research staff and fasting blood samples were collected for measurements of fasting plasma glucose, total cholesterol, triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 515 boys and 711 girls were included in the data analysis. Agreement between SRWC and MWC was assessed by intra-class correlation coefficient and it ranged from 0.77 to 0.87. The ability of sex-specific SRWC values to classify children with a clustering of CMRFs and overweight/obesity exhibited moderately high to high sensitivity and specificity, and the area under the receiver operating characteristics ranged from acceptable to excellent (from 0.76 to 0.84).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SRWC has good agreement with MWC and could be used as a screening tool to classify children with a clustering of CMRFs and overweight/obesity status in Hong Kong Chinese children.
authors.affiliation: The School of Nursing, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: N P T
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: K C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: E A S
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: R Y T
authors.initials: RY
authors.lastname: Sung
authors.forename: J C N
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: A P S
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Kong
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000886:Anthropometry; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006723:Hong Kong / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008659:Metabolic Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009765:Obesity / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D050177:Overweight / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D012307:Risk Factors; D057566:Self Report; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055105:Waist Circumference; D055815:Young Adult