Waist-to-height ratio may be an alternative tool to the body mass index for identifying Colombian adolescents with cardiometabolic risk factors

• Published in: Nutrición hospitalaria : organo oficial de la Sociedad Española de Nutrición Parenteral y Enteral Vol. 36; no. 1; pp. 96 - 102
• Main Authors: Aristizabal, Juan C, Estrada-Restrepo, Alejandro, Barona, Jacqueline
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Portuguese
• Published: Spain Grupo Arán 01.01.2019
• Subjects: Adolescent; Blood Glucose - analysis; Body Mass Index; Cardiovascular Diseases - diagnosis; Cardiovascular Diseases - epidemiology; Child; Cholesterol, HDL - blood; Colombia - epidemiology; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Humans; Insulin - blood; Insulin Resistance; Lipids - blood; Male; Metabolic Diseases - diagnosis; Metabolic Diseases - epidemiology; Nutrition & Dietetics; Obesity - blood; Obesity - diagnosis; Obesity - epidemiology; Overweight - blood; Overweight - diagnosis; Overweight - epidemiology; Risk Factors; Triglycerides - blood; Waist Circumference; Waist-Height Ratio; Colombia; Jóvenes. Obesidad. Obesidad abdominal. Índice antropométrico. Tamizaje nutricional. Factores de riesgo cardiovascular; Obesity; Abdominal obesity; Jóvenes; Obesidad; Tamizaje nutricional; Cardiovascular risk factors; Índice antropométrico; Factores de riesgo cardiovascular; Youth; Anthropometric index; Nutritional screening; Obesidad abdominal
• ISSN: 1699-5198; 1699-5198
• DOI: 10.20960/nh.1909

Background: there is limited information about the usefulness of the waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) to identify Colombian adolescents with cardiometabolic risk factors (CRF). Objective: to compare the utility of WHtR, body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference (WC) to identify adolescents with CRF. Methods: a study with 346 youths (aged 14.0 ± 2.3 years) was performed. Anthropometric measurements were collected and BMI, WC and WHtR were calculated. Fasting blood lipids, glucose and insulin were measured; the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) was computed. The presence of multiple non-WC metabolic syndrome (MetS) factors (high HOMA-IR, high triglycerides and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol [HDL-C]) was analyzed. The area under the curve (AUC) and the odds ratios (OR) were calculated. Results: the BMI, WC and WHtR were comparable at identifying adolescents with high HOMA-IR (AUC = 0.686, 0.694 and 0.641, respectively), low HDL-C (AUC = 0.623, 0.652 and 0.572, respectively) and multiple non-WC MetS factors (AUC = 0.694, 0.715 and 0.688, respectively). The OR of having multiple non-WC MetS factors was similar in overweight adolescents (1.65, 95% CI: 0.86-3.14) and those with WHtR ≥ 0.50 (3.76, 95% CI: 1.95-7.3). There were no OR differences of having multiple non-WC MetS factors among adolescent with obesity (9.88, 95% CI: 3.1-31.7), WC ≥ P90 (18.3, 95% CI: 4.0-83.5) and WHtR ≥ 0.55 (11.0, 95% CI: 3.0-4.4). Conclusions: WHtR, BMI and WC have similar capacities to identify Colombian adolescents with CRF. WHtR showed to be an alternative tool to BMI and WC measurements when screening adolescents for cardiometabolic risk.