Evaluation of hip/heightP ratio as an index for adiposity and metabolic complications in obese children: Comparison with waist-related indices

Aim: to investigate whether body adiposity index (bai; hip/height1.5– 18),pediatric bai (baip; hip/height0.8 – 38),and other hip/heightp ratios are useful in obese children. method: ninety obese japanese children,55 boys and 35 girls,who visited our university clinic,were enrolled. the age was 9.92±2.6 (mean±sd) years,and the percentage overweight (pow) was 51.6±18.8%. we set the power value of the hip/heightp 0,0.5,0.8,1,1.5,and 2 and studied the association with overweight indices,biochemical data,and fat area measured by computed tomography. waist,waist/height ratio,and waist/hip ratio were also evaluated. results: hip/height and hip/height0.8 (baip) were more closely correlated with pow,body mass index percentile,and percentage body fat than hip/height1.5 (bai). the correlation coefficient of hip/height with pow (r =0.855) was the highest among the studied hip/heightp indices. the approximate line to predict pow was 411×hip/height– 207. the waist/height was also highly correlated with pow (r =0.879). hip and hip/height0.5 were more closely correlated with visceral fat area than hip/height,baip,and hip/height1.5. hip and hip/height0.5 were significantly correlated with insulin. only hip was also significantly associated with dyslipidemia. all hip/heightp indices were not significantly correlated with alanine aminotransferase (alt). waist was significantly correlated with serum lipids,alt,and insulin. conclusion: hip/height and baip are better markers for overweight (adiposity) in obese children than bai. however,hip/height,baip,and bai are not useful to predict metabolic complications. waist appears to be the best index for obese children overall at this time. © 2017 japan atherosclerosis society.