Overweight and Central Adiposity in School-Age Children and Links With Hypertension

• Published in: Journal of pediatric nursing Vol. 25; no. 2; pp. 119 - 125
• Main Authors: Meininger, Janet C., Brosnan, Christine A., Eissa, Mona A., Nguyen, Thong Q., Reyes, Lisa R., Upchurch, Sandra L., Phillips, Melinda, Sterchy, Sharon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.04.2010; W.B. Saunders Company/JNL
• Subjects: Age Distribution; Blood Pressure Determination; Body Mass Index; Central adiposity; Child; Comorbidity; Confidence Intervals; Continental Population Groups - statistics & numerical data; Cross-Sectional Studies; Elementary school students; Ethnic Groups; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Hypertension; Hypertension - diagnosis; Hypertension - epidemiology; Logistic Models; Male; Measurement; Nursing; Obese children; Obesity; Obesity - diagnosis; Obesity - epidemiology; Odds Ratio; Overweight - diagnosis; Overweight - epidemiology; Prevalence; Probability; Risk Assessment; School-age children; Screening; Sex Distribution; Studies; Waist Circumference; Hypertension; Central adiposity; Obesity; Screening; School-age children
• ISSN: 0882-5963; 1532-8449
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pedn.2008.09.003

The purpose of this study of school-age children was to estimate prevalence and interrelationships of overweight, central adiposity, and hypertension. It included 1,070 children in kindergarten through sixth grade (67% Hispanic, 26% African American, mean age = 8.9 years). Measures included body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), systolic and/or diastolic hypertension identified by measurements on three separate occasions. Percentage overweight (BMI ≥95th percentile) was 28.7%, 17.9% were at risk of overweight, 28.8% had WC ≥90th percentile, and 9.4% had elevated (≥90th percentile) systolic and/or diastolic blood pressure (BP). If we had screened only for BMI and examined those with BMI ≥85th percentile or underweight for hypertension, we would have missed 26% of the children with persistently elevated BP. WC explained variance in elevated BP not explained by BMI ( p < .001). Measurement of WC is easily incorporated in a school-based screening protocol.