Anthropometric measures and blood pressure in school children

Objective: to investigate the association of blood pressure and body mass index,waist circumference,waist-to-height ratio and triceps skinfold,in children and adolescents in curitiba,state of paraná,brazil. methods: cross-sectional study with a random sample of 1,441 students from public schools,aged from 10 to 16 years (655 boys and 786 girls). the following indicators were assessed: weight,height,waist circumference,triceps skinfold,systolic and diastolic blood pressures,pubertal stage,and socioeconomic status. pearson correlation tests and multivariate logistic regression were used,considering p < 0.05. results: we found weak correlations among all the anthropometric parameters and systolic and diastolic levels,with coefficients values ranging from 0.18 to 0.28 (p < 0.001). in multivariate analysis,only body mass index [odds ratio (or) = 2.9; 95% confidence interval (95%ci) 1.9-4.5] and triceps skinfold (or = 1.9; 95%ci 1.3-3.1) were found as predictors of high blood pressure,regardless of abdominal adiposity,sexual maturation and socioeconomic status. conclusion: total body adiposity seems to be a better predictor of high blood pressure risk than abdominal fat in this population. © 2013 sociedade brasileira de pediatria.