Índices antropométricos como detectores de alteraciones de la tensión arterial en adolescentes con exceso de peso

Abstract

Introduction. Overweightness, obesity and sedentary life style can be evaluated by different methods of easy application and determination that estimate nutritional status, level of physical activity and cardiovascular risk of adolescents. This is based on some anthropometric measures, such as the Quetelet ratio, waist-hip index ratio and waist-height index ratio, as well as measuring blood pressure and some additional ones. Objective. To evaluate the efficacy of the waist-hip and waist-height index ratios as detectors of blood pressure alterations in overweight adolescents. Methods. A descriptive study was conducted in 80 adolescents, in the Basic Working Group 1 (GBT1) of the Chiqui Comez polyclinic during the year 2020, who were enrolled by a deliberate sampling. Summary measures, ROC curve, optimal cutoff point, sensitivity and specificity determination were used. Results. The area under the curve for the waist-hip ratio (WHpR) and the waist-height (WHtR) ratio for female gender was 0.867 and 0.760, respectively; sensitivity in the optimal cutoff point of both indexes was 92.3 and 76.9%, respectively. In the male gender, the areas under the curve were 0.656 and 0.665 for the WHpR and WHtR, respectively. Optimal cutoff points were obtained for both anthropometric measures with a 72% sensitivity. Conclusions. The WHpR and WHtR have greater discriminatory capacity on the existence of blood pressure alterations in female adolescents who are overweight. In this group, the WHpR is the most effective: an optimal cutoff point of high sensitivity was obtained, with a decrease of false negatives in the prognosis of the condition.