WAIST-TO-HEIGHT RATIO INDEX OR THE PREDICTION OF OVERWEIGHT IN CHILDREN

ABSTRACT Objective: To identify a low-cost abdominal adiposity index that has a higher accuracy in predicting excess weight in children aged four to seven years old. Methods: A cross-sectional study with a sample of 257 children aged 4 to 7 years old. Indicators of abdominal adiposity assessed were: waist circumference (WC), waist-to-height ratio (WHR) and central fat percentage (measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry - DEXA). Overweight children were classified using body mass index by age (BMI/age). In the analysis, the prevalence ratio (PR) using Poisson regression with a robust variance was estimated, and a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was built, with a statistical significance of p