Nationally representative waist circumference percentiles in German adolescents aged 11.0-18.0 years

The aim of this study was to develop age- and sex-specific percentile curves for waist circumference (WC) in German adolescents.

A cross-sectional population-based study (German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents [KiGGS]) was carried out in a large nationally representative sample of 3 345 males and 3 221 females aged 11.0 to 18.0 years from May 2003 to May 2006. Smoothed percentile curves of WC were derived by the LMS method.

Girls had lower WC values than boys at any age and percentile. WC increased with age in both boys and girls. The curves show a fairly linear pattern for males, but for females they begin to level off after the age of 13 years.

The presented WC percentile curves are based on a representative sample of adolescents living in Germany and standardized measurements. We propose their use for clinical practice to monitor abdominal obesity in adolescents, although there is a need for future studies correlating cut-offs with health outcomes. The German curves could contribute to the feasibility of combining representative data from several countries to establish an international reference for WC.