Waist circumference percentile curves as a screening tool to predict cardiovascular risk factors and metabolic syndrome risk in Brazilian children

Curvas de percentis do perímetro de cintura como ferramenta de rastreamento para predizer fatores de risco cardiovasculares e risco de síndrome metabólica em crianças brasileiras

Curvas de percentil de circunferencia de cintura como herramienta de detección para predecir factores de riesgo cardiovascular y síndrome metabólico en niños brasileños

The goals of this study were to develop reference values for waist circumference (WC) in Brazilian children between 6-10 years old and to evaluate the WC performance in predicting cardiovascular risk factors and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in children. This is a population-based epidemiological cross-sectional study, in which 1,397 children participated, with a 6-10 years old probability sampling and from public and private schools in the city of Uberaba, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. WC was measured at the waist narrowest point (WC1) and at the umbilicus level (WC2). Blood samples and blood pressure were collected to determine the MetS diagnosis. There was a significant effect of age (p = 0.001), anatomical point (WC1 vs. WC2, p = 0.001) and sex-anatomical point interaction (p = 0.016) for WC. Smoothed sex- and age-specific 5^th, 10^th, 25^th, 50^th, 75^th, 90^th and 95^th percentile curves of WC1 and WC2 were designed by the LMS method. WC was accurate to predict MetS, for all ages [area under the ROC curve (AUC) > 0.79 and p < 0.05], regardless of sex. This study presented percentile curves for WC at two anatomical points in a representative sample of Brazilian children. Furthermore, WC was shown to be a strong predictor of cardiovascular risk factors and MetS in children.

Keywords:
Anthropometry; ROC Curve; Child Development