The importance of measuring waist circumference of children.

A large number of positive scientific evidences confirmed that central obesity was highly associated with CVD, diabetes and hypertension. Studies in different countries and ethnic groups demonstrated that waist circumferences (WC), waist­hip ratio (WHR) and waist circumference­height ratio (WHtR) (or waist circumference­stature ratio WSR) performed as strong predictors when being added to body mass index (BMI). And WC and WHtR could be independent predictive indices for risk of CVD events and diabetes . The same trend has been confirmed and several recommended optimal cutoffs of WC, WHtR, and WHR for disease prevention have been made by national representative epidemiological studies and follow­up studies in China . Currently, screening indicators for central obesity and its application is a hot topic in disease prevention strategy implementation. WHO Expert Consultation on WC and WHR convened in 2008 considered approaches to develop international guidelines for indices and action levels in order to characterize health risks associated with these measures of body fat distribution­alternative or to complement the existing WHO guidelines for assessments of generalized obesity on the basis of body mass index. The six background papers for the consultation examined a range of health outcomes and issues including whether there was a basis for choosing WC over WHR and whether different action levels by gender, age, ethnicity, country or region were warranted. In which the following table summarized the WC cutoffs for Chinese which were recommended by different authors (Table 1).