Waist to height ratio and elevated blood pressure among children in Taiwan.

OBJECTIVES To study the association of waist to height ratio (WHtR) and elevated blood pressure (BP) in children. STUDY DESIGN Cross-sectional study. SETTING Six elementary schools in Taipei, Taiwan. PARTICIPANTS All children aged 7 years at first grade. METHODS We measured anthropometrics and BP during the regular health examinations among children. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Elevated BP in children was defined as an average systolic BP or diastolic BP greater than or equal to the gender, age, and height-percentile-specific 95th percentile BP value. RESULTS Among 2,334 eligible school children, the averages of systolic BP and diastolic BP increased with quartiles of WHtR. The prevalence of elevated BP in children among the first quartile of WHtR was 8.8% and increased to 31.2% among the fourth quartile of WHtR (P < 0.0001). Children among the first quartile of WHtR being reference, the adjusted odds ratio of elevated BP for children among the fourth quartile of WHtR was 3.10. The odds ratio of elevated BP with per 0.01 increase of WHtR was 1.11. CONCLUSIONS WHtR, simple to measure, is an important factor associated with elevated BP in children.