Waist circumference percentiles among Turkish children under the age of 6 years

Area of Science:

• Pediatrics
• Public Health
• Anthropometry

Background:

• Waist circumference is a key indicator of abdominal obesity and associated cardio-metabolic risks in children.
• Existing research on waist circumference percentiles primarily focuses on older children, with limited data for preschool-aged populations.
• Abdominal obesity prevalence and its associated risks necessitate age- and gender-specific reference data, especially in diverse populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop age- and gender-specific smoothed waist circumference reference curves for Turkish preschool children (0-6 years).
• To determine the prevalence of abdominal obesity in this cohort.
• To compare the developed reference curves with those from other countries.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 2,947 Turkish children (1,471 boys, 1,476 girls) aged 0-6 years.
• Standardized measurement of waist circumference, stratified by gender.
• Construction and smoothing of age- and gender-specific reference curves using the LMS method, providing percentiles (3rd-97th) and standard deviations.

Main Results:

• Waist circumference values demonstrated an increase with age and significant differences between genders.
• The prevalence of abdominal obesity was found to be 10.1% in boys and 10.7% in girls.
• Turkish preschool children's waist circumference data were significantly lower compared to reference data from two other countries.

Conclusions:

• This study provides the first age- and gender-specific waist circumference reference curves for Turkish children aged 0-6 years.
• The developed percentiles are valuable tools for assessing central obesity risk in preschool-aged Turkish children.
• The findings highlight the need for population-specific reference data in pediatric obesity assessment and international comparisons.