title: Waist-to-Height Ratio as an Indicator of High Blood Pressure in Urban Indian School Children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the utility of waist-to-height ratio to identify risk of high blood pressure when compared to body mass index and waist circumference in South Indian urban school children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Secondary data analysis from a cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Urban schools around Bangalore, India.
  
  
  METHODS
  1913 children (58.1% males) aged 6-16 years with no prior history of chronic illness (PEACH study).
  
  
  METHODS
  Height, weight, waist circumference and of blood pressure were measured. Children with blood pressure ?90th percentile of age-, sex-, and height-adjusted standards were labelled as having high blood pressure.
  
  
  RESULTS
  13.9% had a high waist-to-height ratio, 15.1% were overweight /obese and 21.7% had high waist circumference. High obesity indicators were associated with an increased risk of high blood pressure. The adjusted risk ratios (95% CI) of high systolic blood pressure with waist-to-height ratio, body mass index and waist circumference were 2.48 (1.76, 3.47), 2.59 (1.66, 4.04) and 2.38 (1.74, 3.26), respectively. Similar results were seen with high diastolic blood pressure.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Obesity indicators, especially waist-to-height ratio due to its ease of measurement, can be useful initial screening tools for risk of high blood pressure in urban Indian school children.
authors.affiliation: St. Johns Medical College, and; Divisions of #Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and Nutrition, St. Johns Research Institute; Bangalore, India; Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, and Boston Childrens Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health; Boston, MA, USA. Correspondence to: Dr Rebecca Kuriyan, Division of Nutrition, St. Johns Research Institute, Bangalore 560 034, India. rebecca@sjri.res.in.
authors.forename: P E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Mishra
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shastri
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Duggan
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bosch
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: McDonald
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Kurpad
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kuriyan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000886:Anthropometry; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology*; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D063766:Pediatric Obesity; D012306:Risk; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D065927:Waist-Height Ratio