Comparison of body mass index with abdominal obesity for identifying elevated blood pressure in children and adolescents: The SNEC study.
Body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) are two common ways to measure obesity. There is a debate, however, about which of these two measures are more closely associated with elevated blood pressure (BP). The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence of obesity and whether BMI and WC is better associated with elevated BP in children and adolescents. A representative sample of 8613 Chinese youth aged 7-17 years from seven cities in Northeastern China was selected and measurements of height, weight, WC, BP were taken from 2012 to 2013. The average age of the children was 11.3±2.3years. The prevalence of overweight/obese and abdominal obesity in the subjects was 35% and 44.8%, respectively. We found that both BMI and WC were significantly associated with elevated BP. An increase of 1kgm-2in BMI was associated with a 1.10 (1.08-1.12, 95% CI) increased risk of an elevated BP diagnosis in boys, and a 1.14 (1.11-1.16, 95% CI) increased risk in girls. Meanwhile, a 1cm increase in WC correlated with a 1.03 (1.02-1.04, 95% CI) and a 1.05 (1.04-1.06, 95% CI) increased risk of higher BP in boys and girls, respectively. Compared to the normal-weight youth, subjects with elevated BMI (BMI>85th) had higher risk of elevated BP (OR: 2.42, 95% CI: 2.13-2.75) than that of in elevated WC participants (OR: 2.00, 95% CI: 1.77-2.27). Therefore, BMI may associate better with elevated BP than WC in Chinese youth in our Seven Northeastern Cities study.
Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health Risk Assessment, Faculty of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, ​Guangzhou 510080, China.
Ping
P
Yuan
Department of Epidemiology, College for Public Health and Social Justice, Saint Louis University, Saint Louis 63104, USA.
Zhengmin Min
ZM
Qian
School of Social Work, College for Public Health and Social Justice, Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, MO 63104, USA.
Michael
M
Vaughn
School of Social Work, College for Public Health and Social Justice, Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, MO 63104, USA.
Jin
J
Huang
Department of Epidemiology, College for Public Health and Social Justice, Saint Louis University, Saint Louis 63104, USA.
Patrick
P
Ward
Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health Risk Assessment, Faculty of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, ​Guangzhou 510080, China.
Yu
Y
Zhu
Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health Risk Assessment, Faculty of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, ​Guangzhou 510080, China.
Xiao-Di
XD
Qin
Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health Risk Assessment, Faculty of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, ​Guangzhou 510080, China.
Yang
Y
Zhou
Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health Risk Assessment, Faculty of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, ​Guangzhou 510080, China.
Meng
M
Li
Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health Risk Assessment, Faculty of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, ​Guangzhou 510080, China.
Shuli
S
Xu
Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health Risk Assessment, Faculty of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, ​Guangzhou 510080, China.
Ya-Zhi
YZ
Zhang
Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health Risk Assessment, Faculty of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, ​Guangzhou 510080, China.
Wen-Wen
WW
Bao
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510080, China.
Yuan-Tao
YT
Hao
Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health Risk Assessment, Faculty of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, ​Guangzhou 510080, China. Electronic address: zengxw123@163.com.
Xiao-Wen
XW
Zeng
Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health Risk Assessment, Faculty of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, ​Guangzhou 510080, China. Electronic address: donggh5@mail.sysu.edu.cn.
Guang-Hui
GH
Dong
D000293:Adolescent; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D056128:Obesity, Abdominal / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology*; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D055105:Waist Circumference
Body mass index; Elevated blood pressure; Obesity; Waist circumference