title: Height-adjusted percentiles evaluated central obesity in children and adolescents more effectively than just waist circumference.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We compared the prevalence of obesity based on both waist circumference for height and body mass index (BMI) in Iranian children and adolescents.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data on 13 120 children with a mean age of 12.45 ± 3.36 years (50.8% male) from the fourth Childhood and Adolescence Surveillance and Prevention of Adult Non-communicable Disease study were included. Measured waist circumference values were modelled according to age, gender and height percentiles. The prevalence of obesity was estimated using the 90th percentiles for both unadjusted and height-adjusted waist circumferences and compared with the World Health Organization BMI cut-offs. They were analysed further for short, average and tall children.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Waist circumference values increased steadily with age. For short and average height children, the prevalence of obesity was higher when height-adjusted waist circumference was used. For taller children, the prevalence of obesity using height-adjusted waist circumference and BMI was similar, but lower than the prevalence based on measurements unadjusted for height. Height-adjusted waist circumference and BMI identified different children as having obesity, with overlaps of 69.47% for boys and 68.42% for girls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Just using waist circumference underestimated obesity in some Iranian children and measurements should be adjusted for height.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mostafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hosseini
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Child Growth and Development Research Center, Research Institute for Primordial Prevention of Non-Communicable Disease, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Roya
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kelishadi
authors.affiliation: Physiology Research Center and Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahmoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yousefifard
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran.
authors.forename: Mostafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Qorbani
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Chronic Kidney Disease Research Center, The Children's Hospital Medical Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.|Department of Pediatric Nephrology, Faculty of Medicine, The Children's Hospital Medical Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Behnaz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bazargani
authors.affiliation: Chronic Diseases Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Population Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ramin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Heshmat
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Esmail
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Motlagh
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Immunodeficiencies, Pediatrics Center of Excellence, Children's Medical Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Babak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mirminachi
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Chronic Kidney Disease Research Center, The Children's Hospital Medical Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.|Department of Pediatric Nephrology, Faculty of Medicine, The Children's Hospital Medical Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Neamatollah
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ataei
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D056128:Obesity, Abdominal / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence; D055105:Waist Circumference
keywords: Body mass index; Nomograms; Obesity; Paediatrics; Waist circumference