The inter-operator variability in measuring waist circumference and its potential impact on the diagnosis of the metabolic syndrome

Panoulas, Vasileios F.; Ahmad, Nasir; Fazal, Anam; Kassamali, Rahim; Nightingale, Peter; Kitas, George D.; Labib, Mourad

doi:10.1136/pgmj.2008.068825

Cited by 42 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…zero decimals) compared with 0.1 cm for the tape that hence has a resolution which is 10 times greater-a difference that could introduce a bias in calculating the precision of the ViScan device, that is, inflating its value. However, we found similarly low values of repeatability (mean coefficient of variabilityo1%) for both the techniques (Table 1), and our tape data are in line with the commonly reported within-investigator variability of WC measured by the tape that is generally low (coefficient of variability o1%) and often below 1 cm (Nádas et al, 2008;Panoulas et al, 2008;Geeta et al 2009) and hence not necessarily worse than with the ViScan. Nonetheless, the primary advantage of the ViScan device is that, in contrast to the tape method, it is operatorindependent, and hence the inter-investigator variability in WC for a given subject is not expected to be larger than the intra-investigator one.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…What then are the arguments? First, innovation is the motor of research; second, improvement in accuracy and precision of WC is important in order to detect the effect of subtle changes on various health outcomes; third, in daily practice, standardization of WC measurement among multiple field workers in different parts of the world is difficult when a tape is used, as the inter-operator accuracy and intra-individual reproducibility varies substantially (Nádas et al, 2008;Panoulas et al, 2008;Mason and Katzmarzyk, 2009) and this may jeopardize the diagnosis of metabolic syndrome. Potential errors using the manual tape may arise from poor training harmonization of investigators and poor motivation of some operators.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Non-contact assessment of waist circumference: will tape measurements become progressively obsolete?

et al. 2011

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Waist circumference (WC) is a key variable to assess in health management as it is a proxy of abdominal fat mass and a surrogate marker of cardiometabolic disease risk, including the metabolic syndrome. Recently, a portable non-contact device calculating WC (ViScan) has been developed, which hence allows the tracking of WC independently of the inter-investigators error. We compared WC values obtained with this device with WC measured by simple non-stretchable tape in 74 adults of varying body mass indices (range 17-39 kg/m 2 ). The correlation between the two methods was very high (r ¼ 0.97, Po0.0001) and the reproducibility (precision) assessed with a rigid phantom was excellent (o1 cm, coefficient of variabilityo1%). The instrument constitutes a potentially valuable tool for longitudinal surveys and comparative international studies, which require simple but precise measurements of WC in order to track the effect of subtle changes on various health outcomes.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-contact assessment of waist circumference: will tape measurements become progressively obsolete?

et al. 2011

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“…The fat can be released into blood and may be responsible for most of negative consequences associated with obesity. Alone BMI is not enough to determine risk of developing obesity.BMI remains the best indication of measuring underweight , where WHR should not be used [26].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalance of Obesity in Children with Cerebral Palsy

Bansal

Diwan

et al. 2014

JCDR

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Introduction:Obesity are epidemic among children and adolescents. There is worldwide tendency of increasing prevalence of obesity in children. Cerebral palsy (CP) is leading cause of childhood disability.studies have proposed mechanism of children with disability leading towards obesity and related health risks. So this study is aimed at determining whether such trend of obesity exists in children with CP in terms of BMI and WHR.Study Design: Cross -sectional study. Materials and Methods:Participants: 40 children diagnosed as CP age 2-18 years, GMFCS I-IV.Procedure: BMI; kg/m 2 was calculated from height and weight. WHR was calculated by measuring waist circumference and hip circumference. BMI percentiles were reported according to sexspecific age group standards for growth set by the WHO growth charts.Results: Out of total CP subjects 40% were found to be underweight, 45%, 7.5% and 7.5% were found to be normal, overweight and obese respectively according to BMI. Whereas 20%, 20% 60% were found to be at high risk, moderate risk and high risk of obesity respectively according to WHR. Conclusion:In our patient population, analysis of BMI and WHR suggests that children with CP have a high rate of overweight and are at risk of overweight, particularly of central obesity.

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“…However, physicians report they find it hard to measure (10)(11)(12) . Moreover, studies showing good reliability of waist circumference measurements are mainly performed by health professionals trained in anthropometrics (1?3 to 6?5 cm) (13)(14)(15) while studies in which measurements are conducted by physicians show larger variability (0?7 to 12 cm) (16)(17)(18) .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Measurement error of waist circumference: gaps in knowledge

Verweij

Terwee

Proper

et al. 2012

Public Health Nutr.

121

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Objective: It is not clear whether measuring waist circumference in clinical practice is problematic because the measurement error is unclear, as well as what constitutes a clinically relevant change. The present study aimed to summarize what is known from state-of-the-art research. Design: To identify the magnitude of the measurement error of waist circumference measurements from the literature, a search was conducted in PubMed from 1975 to February 2011. Results: The measurement error may vary between 0?7 cm and 15 cm. Taking a realistic range of measurable waist circumference into account (60-135 cm), we argue that a short-term clinically relevant change in waist circumference of 5 % may lie between 3?0 and 6?8 cm and a maintained clinically relevant change of 3 % between 1?8 and 4?1 cm. Conclusions: Based on these results, we conclude it may be difficult to distinguish clinically relevant change from measurement error in individual subjects, due to the large measurement error and unclear definition of clinically relevant change. More research is needed to address these gaps in knowledge. To minimize measurement error, we recommend using a uniform measurement protocol, training and repeated measurements.

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The inter-operator variability in measuring waist circumference and its potential impact on the diagnosis of the metabolic syndrome

Cited by 42 publications

References 16 publications

Non-contact assessment of waist circumference: will tape measurements become progressively obsolete?

Non-contact assessment of waist circumference: will tape measurements become progressively obsolete?

Prevalance of Obesity in Children with Cerebral Palsy

Measurement error of waist circumference: gaps in knowledge

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