Optimal cutoff of the abdominal skinfold thickness (AST) to predict hypertension among Chinese children and adolescents

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that the correlation between the abdominal skinfold thickness (AST) and hypertension is better than that observed using the body mass index (BMI) or waist-to-height ratio (WHtR). We aimed to explore the optimal cutoff of the AST to predict childhood hypertension. The AST percentiles were calculated based on 215,223 students from the Chinese National Survey on Students’ Constitution and Health (CNSSCH) in 2010 using the LMS method. Logistic regression model and Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the optimal cutoff of the AST to predict hypertension based on a sample of 683 children aged 8–15 years. The prevalence of hypertension was 5.71% (5.45% in boys and 6.01% in girls). The area under the ROC curve [AUC (95% CI)] values of the BMI, WHtR and AST to predict hypertension were 0.62 (0.47–0.77), 0.61 (0.45–0.76), and 0.67 (0.54–0.80) in boys and 0.59 (0.46–0.71), 0.65 (0.50–0.80), and 0.70 (0.57–0.83) in girls, respectively. The AUC value at P85 of AST in boys and that at P90 of AST in girls to predict hypertension were higher than other percentile values of AST. The OR (95% CI) values of the optimal cutoff of the AST associated with hypertension were 2.90 (1.17–7.20) and 4.91 (1.81–13.31) in boys and girls, respectively, and were higher than those associated with overweight/obesity (based on BMI) and abdominal obesity (based on WHtR).The AST was more effectively associated with hypertension than the BMI and WHtR, and the optimal cutoff to predict hypertension was at P85 for boys and P90 for girls.