Waist-based anthropometric measures and central adiposity-related comorbidities in children

South African Family Practice

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Waist-based anthropometric measures and central adiposity-related comorbidities in children
 
Creator Gomwe, Howard Phiri, Lesego Marange, Chioneso S.
 
Subject Family medicine central adiposity, waist circumference, waist-hip ratio, waist-to-height ratio, rural children.
Description Background: Waist-related measures are commonly used to classify central adiposity and related comorbidities. This classification may be essential among children, as it may identify the risk of future non-communicable diseases.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa, among 459 primary school learners aged 9–14 years. Height, weight and waist circumference (WC) were measured using standardised techniques recommended by World Health Organization (WHO). The anthropometric measurements, including body mass index (BMI), WC, waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) were computed and evaluated.Results: Most participants were girls (57.70%) with an average age of 11.20 ± 1.60 years. The average weight was 38.81 kg ± 10.49 kg with an average height of 144.16 (standard deviation [s.d.] = 10.37) cm. The sample had a BMI of 18.41 kg/m2 (s.d. = 3.19). The results showed, on average, WC of 62.10 cm ± 8.12 cm, WHR of 0.82 ± 0.15 and WHtR of 0.44 ± 0.05. Girls reported significantly higher BMI, WC and WHtR. Based on WHtR, the results showed the acceptable ability to classify children according to abdominal obesity, thus identifying their risk for comorbidities.Conclusion: Overall body fat indicated by BMI and central obesity shown by waist-related anthropometric measures can play a significant role in classifying children in terms of their risk of comorbidities.Contribution: To prevent the risks of metabolic diseases in childhood, it is necessary to detect abdominal obesity early using WC-based anthropometric measurements, especially WHtR, to identify those at risk.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor Funding for this study was provided by the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and the Health and Welfare Sector Education and Training Authority (HWSETA).
Date 2024-08-14
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Quantitative
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/safp.v66i1.5932
 
Source South African Family Practice; Vol 66, No 1 (2024): Part 3; 6 pages 2078-6204 2078-6190
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://safpj.co.za/index.php/safpj/article/view/5932/8965 https://safpj.co.za/index.php/safpj/article/view/5932/8966 https://safpj.co.za/index.php/safpj/article/view/5932/8967 https://safpj.co.za/index.php/safpj/article/view/5932/8968
 
Coverage Eastern Cape 2015-2018 Age,Gender,Ethnicity
Rights Copyright (c) 2024 Howard Gomwe, Lesego Phiri, Chioneso S. Marange https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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