Finding the right waist size to spot health risks in kids
Determination of Child Waist Circumference Cut Points for Metabolic Risk Based on Acanthosis Nigricans, the Children’s Healthy Living Program
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Researchers checked kids' waist sizes to see if they could predict a skin condition linked to diabetes. They found different waist sizes for boys and girls of different ages work best.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
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Evidence Score
A snapshot of a population at a single point in time. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine the direction of cause and effect.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Researchers checked kids' waist sizes to see if they could predict a skin condition linked to diabetes. They found different waist sizes for boys and girls of different ages work best.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 536 / 44
Evidence Score
A snapshot of a population at a single point in time. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine the direction of cause and effect.
Publication
Authors
Yamanaka AB, Davis JD, Wilkens LR, Hurwitz EL, Fialkowski MK, Deenik J, Leon Guerrero RT, Novotny R
Related Content
Claims (10)
Increased waist circumference is associated with a higher risk of metabolic disease and mortality, independent of total body weight.
For young kids in the Pacific islands, measuring their waist size can help spot a skin condition called acanthosis nigricans. For boys 2-5 years old, a waist size of about 58 cm (90th percentile) correctly identifies about half of the kids with the skin condition and correctly rules it out for 91% of kids without it.
In a study of over 4,000 young kids in the Pacific islands, about 5 out of every 100 had a dark, velvety skin condition called acanthosis nigricans.
For boys aged 6-8 in the Pacific islands, the waist size that best predicts the skin condition acanthosis nigricans is smaller (63.6 cm) than the standard cutoff (71.6 cm) used by the International Diabetes Federation.
For girls 2-5 years old in the Pacific islands, a smaller waist size (53.3 cm at 62nd percentile) is used to predict the skin condition acanthosis nigricans compared to boys of the same age (58.3 cm at 90th percentile).