Waist circumference to height ratio in children and adolescents.
BACKGROUND
Waist circumference (WC) to height ratio (WC/HT) is used as a measure of central obesity. However, the optimum ratio that will separate populations with high from low cardiovascular risk remains controversial. This investigation evaluates an optimum WC/HT value to define central obesity in children.


METHODS
The sensitivity and specificity of WC/HT in 649 children (age 2-18 years) without evidence of heart disease were analyzed for WC and for body mass index (BMI).


RESULTS
A WC/HT ≥0.5 resulted in sensitivity:specificity of 99%:72% for detecting central obesity and 83%:77% for detecting overweight (BMI ≥85th percentile) subjects. A value of WC/HT ≥0.55 yielded sensitivity:specificity of 80%:96% for detecting central obesity and 75%:94% for detecting subjects with obesity (BMI ≥95th percentile).


CONCLUSIONS
The use of WC/HT between ≥0.5 and <0.55 identified subjects at-risk for central obesity and WC/HT ≥0.55 identified central obesity with a high probability.
Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Children's, Cleveland, OH, USA Fairview Hospital, Cleveland Clinic Health System, Cleveland, OH, USA kemeht@ccf.org.
Sudhir Ken
SK
Mehta
D000293:Adolescent; D001827:Body Height / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D055105:Waist Circumference / Q000502:physiology*
body mass index; central obesity; obesity; overweight