Premium
Waist circumference for the screening of the metabolic syndrome in children
Author(s) -
Moreno LA,
Pineda I,
Rodriguez G,
Fleta J,
Sarria A,
Bueno M
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2002.tb02825.x
Subject(s) - medicine , waist , circumference , percentile , metabolic syndrome , body mass index , receiver operating characteristic , anthropometry , blood pressure , obesity , waist to height ratio , endocrinology , statistics , geometry , mathematics
Aim : To identify the best anthropometric predictor of the metabolic syndrome in children. Methods : Screening performance was evaluated in a clinical setting. The study included 140 children: 72 non‐obese and 68 with non‐syndromal obesity. Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference and triceps/subscapular skinfolds ratio were used as predictor variables, and systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, glucose, uric acid, fasting insulin, triglycerides and HDL‐C as metabolic syndrome variables. Results : The areas under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were 0.849 (95% CI: 0.780,0.919) for BMI, 0.868 (95% CI: 0.801,0.934) for waist circumference and 0.834 (95% CI: 0.757,0.910) for the triceps/subscapular skinfolds ratio. No statistically significant differences were found for the three areas under the ROC curves. The point on the ROC curve closest to 1 corresponded to the 65th percentile for BMI, to the 70th percentile for waist, and to the 40th percentile for the triceps/subscapular skinfolds ratio. Conclusion : Waist circumference seems to be the best predictor of children with the metabolic syndrome in paediatric clinical settings.