Waist circumference as high blood pressure predictor in school age children

Abstract

Childhood hypertension is becoming more common with the increasing numbers of child obesity, which has encouraged new studies to identify a good anthropometric marker for high blood pressure levels. The objective this study was to identify the best anthropometric predictor of risk of hypertension in children between 8-10 years of age. The Children were evaluated for socioeconomic status and their blood pressure (BP), weight, height, waist circumference (WC) and percentage of body fat (PBF) were measured. The study included 445 children, of which 50.1% were females. The prevalence of obesity defined by body mass index (BMI) was 14.6%. Increased BP was found in 3.4% and 2.2% of the children, considering the pre-hypertension and hypertension classifications respectively. The arithmetic mean of BP value correlated significantly with BMI, WC and PBF. After height control, the correlations that were maintained significant were between WC and systolic blood pressure (SBP) and between WC and diastolic blood pressure (DBP). The variable with the highest predictive power of the occurrence of hypertension was WC. The results indicate that, in this population of children between 8 and 10 years old, WC is a measurement of higher value in predicting increased BP.

Association of Waist Circumference With Blood Pressure and Familial Dietary Habits in Preschool Children: A Cross-Sectional Study in Northeastern China.

“…These results were similar to some previous studies. A study performed on a Brazilian sample aged 8 to 10 years con rmed that abdominal obesity determined by WC had the closest association with elevated blood pressure, as compared to BMI and percentage of total body fat (PBF) [10]. The risk of hypertension in Mexican children and adolescents were found to be higher in those with increased WC compared to those with high BMI [31].…”

“…WC is commonly used to describe abdominal obesity. Some studies have shown that WC is strongly associated with elevated BP during childhood, as well as other cardiovascular diseases in adulthood [9,10]. WC has, at the least, become one of many indices of metabolic abnormalities among adults.…”

Relative children’s lipid accumulation with hypertension in Chinese children and adolescents

“…One study showed that an increase of WC in children with a normal weight was associated with an increase in blood pressure [46]. A study by Cruz et al [47] showed that waistline was a good predictor of elevated blood pressure in children aged 8 to 10 years old. This study also found that the WC in hypertensive children was significantly higher than that in non-hypertensive children, and SWC ≥ P 75 significantly increased the risk of hypertension (OR (95% CI): 2.21 (1.13, 4.30).…”

Body adiposity measures and risk of adolescent hypertension among the postpubescents Northeast India

“…Different measures of adiposity have been extensively used to predict the risk of cardiometabolic health in both adolescents and adults. Different studies all over the world raise the association of adolescent hypertension with adiposity measures such as higher BMI (Dulskiene et al, 2014; Dutra et al, 2018; Tee et al, 2020) waist circumference (Cruz et al, 2019; Forkert et al, 2016), WHtR (McCarthy & Ashwell, 2006; Moschonis et al, 2018; Rodea‐Montero et al, 2014). In India and other Asian countries too, higher BMI and other adiposity indices are also reported to enhance the cardiometabolic risk (Bharati et al, 2008; Borah et al, 2015; Cheah et al, 2018; Khadilkar et al, 2012; Kotian et al, 2010; Raj, 2012; Sougawa et al, 2020).…”