Waist Circumference in Children and Adolescents from Different Ethnicities

In their Bulletin 2001; 79 the World Health Organisation (WHO) had published: “The last two decades have witnessed the emergence and consolidation of an economic paradigm which emphasizes domestic deregulation and the removal of barriers to international trade and finance. If properly managed, such an approach can lead to perceptible gains in health status.” Globalization in the last two decades influenced lifestyle and especially food patterns all over the world (Bauchner H, 2008 and Hu FB, 2008). In a “Nutrition transition” the consumption of dietary fat and/ or high -caloric meals and sweetened drinks has been increased, in developed countries as well as in developing ones (Hawkes C, 2006). At the same time overweight and obesity just as increased and dietrelated chronic diseases like diabetes mellitus II, hypertension or lipid disorders or cardiovascular diseases known from elder adults are observed in children and adolescents. Waist circumference (WC) is a generally accepted measure of central obesity that is a traditional risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). A worldwide standardization of WC is warranted because of considerable differences between different ethnicities. For adults pragmatic ethnic-specific cut-off values for WC were defined between >85 cm and >94 cm for men and between >80 cm and >90 cm for women (Alberti et al., 2005). For children and adolescents from different ethnicities no uniform definition of WC cut-offs exists because of physiological growth and development. The aim of this study is to develop ageand gender-specific reference curves of WC for German children and adolescents, to define cut-off values, to collect percentile curves from other ethnicities, and to compare global findings. Calculation of our cut-off values is based on conventional anthropometric and non-anthropometric cardiovascular risk factors. WC is obligate for the definition of the metabolic syndrome already in youths. Early detection and intervention by lifestyle change are mandatory to prevent adult adiposity and its multiple complications. Thus, precise diagnosis is prerogative for the estimation of the worldwide prevalence of the metabolic syndrome and global intervention.