Waist-to-height ratio is a useful index for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in children and adolescents: a secondary data analysis

• Published in: BMC public health Vol. 17; no. 1; p. 851
• Main Authors: Lin, Ming-Shyan, Lin, Tsai-Hui, Guo, Su-Er, Tsai, Ming-Horng, Chiang, Ming-Shin, Huang, Tung-Jung, Chen, Mei-Yen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 30.10.2017; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Abdomen; Adolescents; Age; Alcohol; Anthropometry; Blood pressure; Body fat; Body height; Body mass index; Childhood obesity; Children; Cholesterol; Cirrhosis; Complications and side effects; Confidence intervals; cutoff value; Data analysis; Diagnosis; Family medical history; Fasting; Fatty liver; Females; Health aspects; Hepatitis; Laboratories; Liver; Liver cirrhosis; Liver diseases; Males; Metabolism; nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; Obesity; Pediatrics; Physiological aspects; Public health; Regression analysis; Risk factors; Statistical analysis; Teenagers; Ultrasonic imaging; Ultrasound; Variables; waist-to-height ratio; waist-to-hip ratio; Youth; United States > US; Japan; Taiwan; cutoff value; waist-to-hip ratio; nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; Childhood obesity; waist-to-height ratio
• DOI: 10.1186/s12889-017-4868-5
• ISSN: 1471-2458

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a global problem and pediatric obesity has risen dramatically. Early NAFLD might progress to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) or liver cirrhosis and significantly increase liver disease-related mortality. We looked for NAFLD predictors in children and adolescents. This community-based, cross-sectional study ran from December 2012 to September 2013 in southwestern Taiwan. Children <10 and >19 years old, with detected hepatic diseases, or who drank alcohol were excluded. The diagnosis of NAFLD was based on ultrasound: age, sex, anthropometric measurements, and laboratory data were evaluated for associated risks by using logistic regression analysis. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to determine cutoff values. We enrolled one thousand, two hundred and ten children (594 males; 616 females; mean age: 15.5 ± 2.8 years). Age, anthropometric measurements, and laboratory data were significantly higher in children with NAFLD. The association between NAFLD and the waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) was significant (adjusted odds ratio: 2.6; 95% confidence interval: 1.909-3.549; P < 0.001). It indicated highly suspicion of NAFLD (sensitivity: 70.1%; specificity 76.9%) when the WHtR for children and adolescents is above the cutoff value of 0.469. The WHtR might be a powerful index of the severity of pediatric NAFLD.