Can self-reported waist circumference be used as a screening tool for identifying children with cardiovascular risk and overweight/obese status?

Abstract

Objective: The objectives of this study were two-fold, (1) to validate the reliability of self-reported waist circumference (SRWC) against assessor measured waist circumference (MWC) and (2) to evaluate the diagnostic ability of SRWC for identifying (i) a clustering of cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs) and (ii) overweight/obese status in Hong Kong Chinese children aged 6–18 years. Methods: A cross-sectional study with cluster random sampling was conducted. A self-administrated questionnaire which included demographic data, anthropometric measurement values such as body weight, body height, and waist circumference was given to children to bring home for completion. Children were asked to return the questionnaire and fast themselves for at least 8 hours on the day of the survey. Anthropometric measurements, blood pressure were taken by trained research staff and fasting blood samples were collected for measurements of fasting plasma glucose, total cholesterol, triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Results: A total of 515 boys and 711 girls entered data analysis. The reliability of SRWC was assessed by ICC ranged from 0.77 to 0.87. The gender-specific test based on the SRWC values exhibited moderately high to high sensitivity and specificity and the area under the receiver operating characteristics (AUC-ROCs) ranged from acceptable to excellent (from 0.76 to 0.84) in identifying children with a clustering of CVRFs and overweight/obese. Conclusion: SRWC demonstrates high reliability in detecting MWC and could be an effective screening tool for identifying children with a clustering of CVRFs and overweight/obesity status in Hong Kong Chinese children.