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Waist circumference percentiles for Canadian youth 11–18 y of age

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 58, pages 1011–1015 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective: To develop age- and sex-specific waist circumference reference data for Canadian youth.

Design: Cross-sectional population survey.

Setting: 1981 Canada Fitness Survey.

Subjects: Nationally representative sample of 3064 youth (1540 boys and 1524 girls) 11–18 y of age.

Interventions: Waist circumference was measured with a flexible anthropometric tape.

Main outcome measures: Smoothed and weighted 5th, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th, and 95th waist circumference percentiles derived from LMS regression.

Results: Waist circumference increases with age in both boys and girls, and boys have higher values of waist circumference than girls at every age and percentile level.

Conclusions: These reference data can be used to identify youth with an elevated risk of developing obesity-related disorders and can serve as a baseline for future studies of temporal trends in waist circumference.

Sponsorship: This research was funded by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario (Grant #T4946).

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Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Tim J Cole of The Institute of Child Health, London, for providing the LMS program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physical and Health Education and Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada

    P T Katzmarzyk

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  1. P T Katzmarzyk
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Correspondence to P T Katzmarzyk.

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Katzmarzyk, P. Waist circumference percentiles for Canadian youth 11–18 y of age. Eur J Clin Nutr 58, 1011–1015 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601924

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