Associations between body shape, body adiposity and other indices: a case study of hypertension in Chinese children and adolescents

Abstract

Background: A Body Shape Index (ABSI) and the Body Adiposity Index (BAI) are used to quantify body shape for adults. However, only a few studies have been conducted confirming whether ABSI or BAI is a better index for predicating hypertension and pre-hypertension in Chinese children and adolescents.

Aim: To estimate scaling exponents for using ABSI with Chinese children and adolescents, comparing body shape indices used for predicting hypertension and pre-hypertension and determine which obesity indices can serve as predictors.

Subjects and methods: Data from children and adolescents aged 7–17 years in the 2011 Chinese Health and Nutrition Survey were analysed. Partial correlation analysis and receiver operating characteristics analysis were applied.

Results: The area under curve (AUC) values for all the predictors are better for differentiating hypertension than pre-hypertension. Body Mass Index (BMI) gave the largest AUC in both children and adolescents. ABSI and ABSI-(C) (ABSI for Chinese children and adolescents) were unable to differentiate hypertension or pre-hypertension in the population. BAI could only differentiate pre-hypertension in girls aged 7–12 years (AUC = 0.353, p < 0.05).

Conclusion: ABSI, ABSI-(C) and BAI are not more associated with hypertension or pre-hypertension than BMI, waist circumference and waist-to-height ratio in Chinese children and adolescents.

Keywords:

• ABSI
• BAI
• hypertension
• children and adolescents
• Chinese

Acknowledgements

The authors used data from the CHNS. The authors are grateful to the National Institute for Nutrition and Health; China Centre for Disease Control and Prevention; Carolina Population Centre (P2C HD050924, T32 HD007168); the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; the NIH (R01-HD30880, DK056350, R24 HD050924 and R01-HD38700); and the NIH Fogarty International Centre (D43 TW009077, D43 TW007709) for the financial support for the CHNS data collection and analysis of files from 1989 to 2015 and future surveys; the China–Japan Friendship Hospital, Ministry of Health for support for CHNS 2009; Chinese National Human Genome Centre at Shanghai since 2009; and Beijing Municipal Centre for Disease Prevention and Control since 2011.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea under Grant [2019R1A2C1003259].