[Body mass index to the cardiovascular disease risk screening in infancy]

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Endocrinology
• Cardiovascular Health
• Anthropometry

Context:

• Childhood obesity is a growing concern with links to cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk.
• Accurate screening tools are essential for early identification of at-risk children.
• Existing body mass index (BMI) cut-offs may not be optimal for all pediatric age groups.

Purpose:

• To establish new, age-specific body mass index (BMI) cut-offs for children aged 7 to 12 years.
• To evaluate the efficacy of proposed BMI cut-offs in identifying cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors.
• To compare the performance of new BMI cut-offs against existing proposals.

Summary:

• A study involving 1,413 children aged 7-12 years measured BMI, total cholesterol, systolic, and diastolic blood pressure.
• Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and bivariate analyses were employed to determine optimal BMI cut-offs.
• The proposed BMI cut-offs demonstrated a strong ability to correctly identify the presence or absence of CVD risk factors.

Impact:

• The newly proposed BMI cut-offs provide a more accurate and balanced approach to screening children for CVD risk.
• These cut-offs are recommended as a superior alternative for identifying children with a higher likelihood of developing CVD risk factors.
• Implementation of these BMI thresholds can aid in early intervention strategies for pediatric cardiovascular health.