Abdominal obesity in adolescents: Development of age‐specific waist circumference cut‐offs linked to adult IDF criteria
Department of Sport and Health, Research Center in Sports, Health Sciences and Human Development, Science and Technology School, University of Évora, Évora, Portugal
Search for more papers by this authorDepartment of Sport and Health, Research Center in Sports, Health Sciences and Human Development, Science and Technology School, University of Évora, Évora, Portugal
Search for more papers by this authorExercise and Health Laboratory, CIPER, Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
Search for more papers by this authorDepartment of Didactics of Music, Plastic and Corporal Expression, Sports Science School, University of Extremadura, Cáceres, Spain
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Exercise and Health Laboratory, CIPER, Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
Correspondence Luís B. Sardinha, Exercise and Health Laboratory, CIPER, Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa, Estrada da Costa, 1499‐002, Cruz‐Quebrada, Portugal. Email: lsardinha@fmh.ulisboa.ptSearch for more papers by this authorDepartment of Sport and Health, Research Center in Sports, Health Sciences and Human Development, Science and Technology School, University of Évora, Évora, Portugal
Search for more papers by this authorDepartment of Sport and Health, Research Center in Sports, Health Sciences and Human Development, Science and Technology School, University of Évora, Évora, Portugal
Search for more papers by this authorExercise and Health Laboratory, CIPER, Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
Search for more papers by this authorDepartment of Didactics of Music, Plastic and Corporal Expression, Sports Science School, University of Extremadura, Cáceres, Spain
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Exercise and Health Laboratory, CIPER, Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
Correspondence Luís B. Sardinha, Exercise and Health Laboratory, CIPER, Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa, Estrada da Costa, 1499‐002, Cruz‐Quebrada, Portugal. Email: lsardinha@fmh.ulisboa.ptSearch for more papers by this authorFunding information: Grant sponsor: DAS is supported by a scholarship from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology; grant number: SFRH/BPD/92462/2013.
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Abstract
Objectives
The purpose of this study was to develop age‐ and sex‐specific waist circumference (WC) cut‐off points, linked to older adolescent and adult criteria for abdominal obesity, to be applied to children in the clinical setting.
Methods
A total of 16,788 adolescents aged 10 to 16 years were assessed for WC. Smoothed age and sex‐specific WC curves were obtained using Cole's LMS method.
Results
Percentiles that corresponded to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) recommendations used for older adolescents and adults (16+ years old) were the 97th percentile for boys and the 87th percentile for girls. Using these cutoffs, a total of 368 boys and 1138 girls were categorized as abdominally obese, in contrast to 1654 boys and 987 girls that were identified using the current IDF pediatric criteria (90th percentile).
Conclusions
We provide age‐ and sex‐specific cut‐off points that can be used to identify abdominal obesity in adolescents. The present findings provide a tool that can be used in the clinical setting for the early detection and prevention of adult obesity. Population‐specific cutoffs may be required for pediatric ages to diagnose children at risk.
