Waist circumference estimation from BMI in Japanese children

Abstract Waist circumference, not BMI, is one of the factors in the definition of metabolic syndrome in adults. In children, waist circumference is also a well known predictor of metabolic syndrome. However, waist circumference measurement is not as commonly recorded as weight and height measurements in physical examinations in schools. This means BMI data is available for every child, but waist circumference is not. Therefore, we investigated whether there is an alternative way to estimate waist circumference even in those children whose waist circumference measurement has not been taken. We evaluated the relationship between BMI and the waist circumference of schoolchildren using a relatively large-scale population-based cohort in Japan. There was a significant linear relationship between BMI and waist circumference noted in each age- and sex-divided group [9–10-year-old boys: waist = 13.99 + 2.63BMI ( r  = 0.940, p r  = 0.933, p r  = 0.880, p r  = 0.859, p