title: Central adiposity and the risk of hypertension in Asian Indian girls.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Elevated blood pressure during childhood is an established predictor of elevated blood pressure in adulthood. This study was undertaken to evaluate the relationship of general and central adiposity measures with hypertension and to find out the best adiposity measure in predicting hypertension.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was carried out in 197 girls aged 5 to 16 years. Anthropometric measurements included stature, weight, waist circumference (WC) and hip circumference. Body mass index (BMI, kg/m(2)), waist hip ratio (WHR) and conicity index (CI) were calculated subsequently. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic bold pressure (DBP) were taken and hypertension was defined as age and stature adjusted SBP and/or DBP ≥95(th) percentile. Linear and logistic regression analysis was made to determine the relationship of adiposity measure with blood pressure and hypertension and to find out the best adiposity measure in predicting hypertension.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both WC [odds ratio (OR)=2.20, 95% confidence interval, 1.32-3.69] and CI (OR=1.85, 95% confidence interval, 1.14-3.0) were significantly associated with hypertension. However, there was no significant association in BMI and WHR with hypertension.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  WC is the best adiposity measure in predicting hypertension in girls.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan 731235, West Bengal, India. jrghosh@rediffmail.com
authors.forename: Jyoti Ratan
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.forename: Arup Ratan
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Bandyopadhyay
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D050218:Body Fat Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D056128:Obesity, Abdominal / Q000150:complications; D012307:Risk Factors; D055105:Waist Circumference; D049629:Waist-Hip Ratio