Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 21, 2026
Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
Published on: February 2, 2017
Waist circumference to height ratio in children and adolescents
1Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Children's, Cleveland, OH, USA Fairview Hospital, Cleveland Clinic Health System, Cleveland, OH, USA kemeht@ccf.org.
Background:
Waist circumference (WC) to height ratio (WC/HT) is used as a measure of central obesity. However, the optimum ratio that will separate populations with high from low cardiovascular risk remains controversial. This investigation evaluates an optimum WC/HT value to define central obesity in children.
Methods:
The sensitivity and specificity of WC/HT in 649 children (age 2-18 years) without evidence of heart disease were analyzed for WC and for body mass index (BMI).
Results:
A WC/HT ≥0.5 resulted in sensitivity:specificity of 99%:72% for detecting central obesity and 83%:77% for detecting overweight (BMI ≥85th percentile) subjects. A value of WC/HT ≥0.55 yielded sensitivity:specificity of 80%:96% for detecting central obesity and 75%:94% for detecting subjects with obesity (BMI ≥95th percentile).
Conclusions:
The use of WC/HT between ≥0.5 and <0.55 identified subjects at-risk for central obesity and WC/HT ≥0.55 identified central obesity with a high probability.
Related Concept Videos
01:22Applications of Normal Distribution
The heights of 15 to 18-year-old males from Chile from 1984 to 1985 followed a normal distribution. The mean height is 172.36...
02:32Variation: Normal Distribution, Range, and Standard Deviation
00:57Percentage Frequency Distribution
The process of making a percentage frequency distribution involves the following few steps: note the total number of observations;...
01:27Signs of Puberty
01:12Coefficient of Correlation
If you suspect a linear relationship between x and y, then r can measure how strong the linear relationship is.
What the VALUE of r tells us:
The value of r is always between –1 and +1: –1 ≤ r ≤ 1.
The size of the correlation r indicates the...
01:13Range Rule of Thumb to Interpret Standard Deviation
For instance, the range rule of thumb can be used to find the tallest and the shortest student in a class, given the mean student height and standard deviation. If the mean student height is 1.6 m and the standard deviation, s is 0.05 m, the height...