AUTHOR=Eslami Maysa , Pourghazi Farzad , Khazdouz Maryam , Tian Jing , Pourrostami Kumars , Esmaeili-Abdar Zahra , Ejtahed Hanieh-Sadat , Qorbani Mostafa 

TITLE=Optimal cut-off value of waist circumference-to-height ratio to predict central obesity in children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis of diagnostic studies

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Nutrition

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2022.985319

DOI=10.3389/fnut.2022.985319

ISSN=2296-861X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction</title><p>Waist circumference-to-height ratio (WHtR) is a simple anthropometric index with good screening power and fast interpretation for early detection of childhood abdominal obesity. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to determine the best cut-off value of WHtR to use in clinical setting.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>Comprehensive searches were conducted in PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science by the end of March 2021. Observational studies investigated the best WHtR cut-off to detect abdominal obesity in children and adolescents were included. Thirteen articles (<italic>n</italic> = 180,119) were included in this systematic review and eight documents were included in the meta-analysis.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>The overall optimal cut-off was 0.49 with pooled sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) of 0.93 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.93–0.96), 0.88 (95% CI: 0.85–0.91) and 102.6 (95% CI: 50.7–207.5), respectively. The optimal WHtR cut-off to predict abdominal obesity in girls and boys were both 0.49.</p></sec><sec><title>Discussion</title><p>The current study shows that we could use this cut-off as a simple index for predicting abdominal obesity in children and adolescents without the need for any charts in practice.</p></sec>