Utility of wrist circumference in recognition of metabolic syndrome in overweight and obese South Indian children and adolescents

Abstract

Abstract Objective To describe the utility of wrist circumference in the identification of cardiometabolic risk in overweight and obese children. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in the obesity clinic of a tertiary care referral hospital over a two year period. All children and adolescents aged 5–17 years with nutritional overweight and obesity were recruited. Data pertaining to chronological age, sex, risk factors and family history were collected. Clinical assessment of anthropometry: Weight, height, body mass index (BMI), Tanner’s stage, wrist circumference, blood pressure, waist circumference and triceps skinfold thickness done as per standard criteria. Biochemical assessment of blood glucose, serum insulin, lipid profile, and Homeostatic Model for Insulin Resistance performed after 12 h of fasting. Results We recruited 118 subjects (mean age 10.9 years, 71.1% males, 87.3% obese and 12.7% overweight); 30 (25.4%) had metabolic syndrome. The mean z scores of wrist circumference of children who presented with and without metabolic syndrome was 2.7 ± 0.8 and 2.1 ± 0.7, respectively (p<0.05). We observed a fair positive correlation between wrist circumference z score and BMI z score, (r=0.5; p<0.05). On receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, 97th percentile of wrist circumference predicted metabolic syndrome among overweight and obese children with a sensitivity of 86.7% and specificity of 37.5% (AUC=0.675). Conclusions Wrist circumference with 97th percentile as a cut-off is a useful tool to identify metabolic syndrome amongst overweight and obese children and adolescents.