Waist percentiles: a simple test for atherogenic disease?

OBJECTIVE

To give standards for quantification of the magnitude of waist circumference in children.

METHODS

We calculated the percentiles of waist circumference by age and sex from a sample of 2858 subjects (1440 males and 1418 females, aged 6-14 years). Data were from a population survey of 15,000 school-children in Pescara, a town in Abruzzo, a region of Central Italy.

RESULTS

We reported the values of the calculated percentiles by age and sex and gave the smoothed percentile curves.

CONCLUSIONS

Some recent studies in adults have indicated that measuring waist circumference seems to be the simplest way to estimate obesity and the risk of cardiovascular disease. In children, similar evidence is emerging. To date, no example of calculating standards has been published for quantitating the magnitude of waist circumference in children; therefore, our example of standard waist measurements could be used as a practical model for selecting subjects with a value of < or = or > 2 SD from the mean. The metabolic status should then be checked by complementary laboratory examination.