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Neck circumference cut‐off values as prognostic variable of childhood overweight/obesity by sex and age
Author(s) -
VARELAMOREIRAS GREGORIO,
SanchezCampayo Elena,
AnguloDiazParreño Santiago,
Avila José Manuel,
Partearroyo Teresa
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.30.1_supplement.lb249
Subject(s) - overweight , obesity , medicine , waist , body mass index , percentile , childhood obesity , pediatrics , demography , gerontology , statistics , mathematics , sociology
Background Early detection of childhood obesity play a crucial role in the prevention of diseases during adulthood. At present, the most commonly used screanning tool for detecting overweight/obesity in children is the body mass index for age percentile, although this rate is not able to provide information on fat distribution. An emerging marker of obesity indicative of central body fat distribution is the neck circumference (NC). However, the neck cut‐off in relation to Spanish children suffering the overweight/obesity in Spanish children has not been well elucidated. Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential differences between different diagnostic criteria at national and international level (Orbegozo Foundation (OF), IOTF and WHO) to define overweight and obesity in order to establish the optimal cut‐off values of NC in Spanish children aged 3 to 12, and finally to determine if the NC could serve as a variable prognosis of childhood obesity. Methods This school‐based cross‐sectional study was carried out during academic course 2014–15, surveyed schoolchildren aged 3 to 12 years old of both genders (n=2725), from the town Villanueva de la Cañada (Madrid, Spain) already included in the THAO‐Child Health program (Global EPODE). NC, waist circumference (WC), weight and height were measured according to the ISAK criteria. References used of the international cut‐offs to define overweight or obesity were the ones from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF), but also the national BMI cut‐offs from the Orbegozo Foundation (OF). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and area under the curve (AUC) were analyzed with Matlab (R2010a) software version 7.11 programmed by the group research. Results The NC cut‐off points varied from 0.733 to 0.940, sensibility (50–100%), specificity (61–100%) according to IOTF criteria, from 0,666 to 0,950, sensibility (50–97%), specificity (64–100%) according to WHO criteria and from 0.438 to 1.000, sensibility (70–100%), specificity (43–100%) according to OF criteria. Conclusion The Cut‐off points proposed in the present study between different diagnostics criteria at national and international level are the first reference data on Spanish Children's NC. These new references seem to be an alternative method more easy to manage and valid as criterion diagnosis of childhood overweight/obesity.