The evaluation of obesity-related cardiometabolic diseases: a simple anthropometric tool for a complicated matter

• Published in: Revista română de pediatrie Vol. 63; no. 3; pp. 259 - 263
• Main Authors: Mogoi, Mirela, Ilie, Constantin, Paul, Corina, Velea, Iulian P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amaltea Medical Publishing House 30.09.2014
• Subjects: body mass index; child obesity; obesity related cardiometabolic disease; waist to height ratio
• ISSN: 1454-0398; 2069-6175
• DOI: 10.37897/RJP.2014.3.7

Introduction. Anthropometric measurements are simple clinical tools that can be used for the evaluation of obesity-related cardiometabolic complications. Objective. To identify obesity-related cardiometabolic outcomes and to compare the relevance of BMI or WHtR for early diagnosis in a group of obese children and adolescents. Material and methods. The study included 174 children diagnosed with simple obesity during a three year period. Anthropometric measurements (including BMI and WHtR) and biochemical variables were analyzed. Results. 4.28% of children were overweight, 31.43% were obese and 64.29% had extreme obesity. The main cardiometabolic complication was insulin resistance (47.76%) followed by hyperinsulinism, alteration of the lipid metabolism and hypertension. All children had a WHtR ≥ 0.5. One Way ANOVA with post-hoc t-test analysis was used for the comparative evaluation of the BMI and WHtR; there were no statistic significant differences between groups. Conclusion. Obesity defined by BMI and a WHtR ≥ 0.5 is in the majority of cases associated with adverse cardiometabolic outcomes. Both anthropometric indexes should be used as evaluation tools in medical practice, but WHtR has some important advantages.