Waist circumference percentiles for 7‐ to 15‐year‐old Australian children
- 1 September 2005
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in Acta Paediatrica
- Vol. 94 (9), 1182-1185
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1651-2227.2005.tb02071.x
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to develop age- and sex-specific reference values for waist circumference using data obtained from Australian children and adolescents. Subjects were 8439 7-to-15 y olds (4277 males and 4162 females) who participated in the 1985 Australian Health and Fitness Survey. Waist circumference (WC) was measured in the standing position at the level of the umbilicus to the nearest 0.1 cm using a constant tension tape. Descriptive statistics for each whole-year age group (e.g., 10.0-10.99 y, etc.) within sex were calculated. Construction of the smoothed centile curves was performed using the LMS method. Mean WC increases in both males and females, with the values being similar between males and females prior to age 11 y, after which values are slightly higher in males. The range of values varied by age and sex groups but approximated 30-60 cm. Smoothed percentile curves and percentile values for the 5th, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th, and 95th percentiles are presented for boys and girls. WC increases with age in boys and girls, and boys have higher values than girls at nearly every age-specific percentile. These data can be added to the existing international reference values for WC of children and adolescents which should be used to create international cut-off points similar to those for the body mass index (BMI). Future studies should consider the immediate and long-term consequences of an elevated WC in children and also examine the interaction of BMI and WC on chronic disease risk factors.This publication has 32 references indexed in Scilit:
- Relationship between adolescent fitness and fatness and cardiovascular disease risk factors in adulthood: The Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study (ACLS)American Heart Journal, 2005
- Stability of variables associated with the metabolic syndrome from adolescence to adulthood: The Aerobics Center Longitudinal StudyAmerican Journal of Human Biology, 2004
- Waist circumference percentiles for Canadian youth 11–18 y of ageEuropean Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2004
- Waist circumference for the screening of the metabolic syndrome in childrenActa Paediatrica, 2002
- Syndrome X in 8-y-old Australian children: stronger associations with current body fatness than with infant size or growthInternational Journal of Obesity, 2002
- Waist circumference and waist-to-height ratio are better predictors of cardiovascular disease risk factors in children than body mass indexInternational Journal of Obesity, 2000
- Trends in body mass index and overweight prevalence among children and adolescents in the region of Aragón (Spain) from 1985 to 1995International Journal of Obesity, 2000
- Waist circumference values in Spanish children—Gender related differencesEuropean Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1999
- Waist percentiles: a simple test for atherogenic disease?Acta Paediatrica, 1996
- Smoothing reference centile curves: The lms method and penalized likelihoodStatistics in Medicine, 1992