Abstract

GONZALEZ-JIMENEZ, Emilio; MONTERO-ALONSO, Miguel Ángel  and  SCHMIDT-RIO VALLE, Jacqueline. Waist-hip ratio as a predictor of arterial hypertension risk in children and adolescents. Nutr. Hosp. [online]. 2013, vol.28, n.6, pp.1993-1998. ISSN 1699-5198.  https://dx.doi.org/10.3305/nh.2013.28.6.6653.

Objectives: The first objective of this study was to verify the existence of a significant association between the nutritional status of a sample of school children and the values of their waist-hip ratio. The second objective was to discover if there was a correlation between the values of their waist-hip ratio and levels of systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Sample and methodology: The population sample consisted of 1001 children and adolescents, 9-17 years of age, from 18 elementary and secondary schools in the provinces of Granada and Almeria (Spain). As part of the study, a complete evaluation of the nutritional status of the subjects was performed by anthropometry. The blood pressure of all the students was also measured. Results: The results obtained confirmed that, regardless of age and gender, 85.01% of the subjects were normal weight, 9.99% were overweight, and 4.99% were obese. A significant association was found between the subjects' nutritional status and its relation with the values of their waist-hip ratio (F = 118.060; p < 0.0001). Furthermore, there were also statistically significant differences between the waist-hip ratio and gender (F = 45.566; p < 0.0001). Finally, a significant association was found to exist between the waist-hip ratio and its relation with both systolic blood pressure (F = 3.068; p < 0.0001) and diastolic blood pressure (F = 4.382; p < 0.0001). Conclusions: The waist-hip ratio is an accurate anthropometric indicator for the prediction of high blood pressure in overweight and obese children and adolescents.

Keywords : Waist-to-hip ratio; Blood pressure; Adolescent; Obesity.

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