Abstract

Obesity in children and adolescents is associated with increased risk of presenting metabolic syndrome (MS) and cardiovascular risk in the long term. Waist to stature (height) ratio (WSR) is a good marker of MS in adults and children and may become a simple parameter to predict the clustering of MS components in subjects at risk. Aim: To determine whether higher values of WSR are associated with the progressive aggregation of MS components among Chilean school-aged children. Methods and Results: Cross-sectional study in 618 children from urban Santiago. Weight, height, waist circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and fasting lipid profile and glycemia were determined. Diagnosis of MS was based on the presence of 3 or more out of 5 components of MS defined by Cook et al. (increased waist circumference and blood pressure, hypertriglyceridemia, low HDL cholesterol and hyperglycemia). ROC curves and proportional odds were used to analyze the relationships between WSR and MS and its components. Mean age of the children was 11± 2 years old, 52% female. MS prevalence was 15%. Mean WSR was 0.53 ± 0.1. The best WSR cutoff to diagnose MS was 0.55 (72% sensitivity and 70% specificity). Using a proportional odds model, for each 0.01 increment in WSR, the OR of increasing one or more component of the MS was 1.27 (IC 95%: 1.22-1.32). Conclusion: The increase in WSR predicts the progressive clustering of MS components in children and adolescents. WSR determination is simple and fast and could become a useful marker to identify children and adolescents at risk of developing MS.