Proposal for an Indicator for Overweight and Obesity: Weight Waist Circumference Index (WWCI)

¹School of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Medicine, Central University of Venezuela.

*Corresponding author: Gerardo José Bauce, Master in Management. Full Professor of Statistics. School of Nutrition and Dietetics. Faculty of Medicine. Central University of Venezuela. Email: [email protected] Tel: 0412-5733044. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6087-3968

Received: August 19, 2021

Published: October 12, 2021

SUMMARY

Objective to evaluate the WWCI, as an indicator of overweight and obesity, in three cities of Venezuela and the purpose of proposing it as an indicator of overweight and obesity.
Materials and Methods: Descriptive, prospective and correlational study in a representative sample of 896 children and adolescents aged 6 to 15 years, 50.4% of whom were male. The variables sex, age, weight, height, Waist circumference (WC), Body Mass Index (BMI), Body Fat Percentage (BFP) and Weight-Waist Circumference Index (WWCI); means, deviation, correlations and ROC curve were determined.
Results: Data show weight averages 43.1±14.8 kg; size 146.2±15.8 cm; BMI 19.6±3.6 kg/m2; WC 66.7±9.3 cm; BFP 15.5±7.3 and WWCI 0.64±0.2. Very good correlations between Size-Weight (0.87); Weight-BMI (0.84); Weight-WWCI (0.91); Size-WWCI (0.80) and BMI-WWCI (0.75); the percentages of children and adolescents, according to BMI and WWCI values, reveal Overweight 10.9% (BMI) and 11.6% (WWCI); Obesity 5.3% (BMI) and 5.8% (WWCI), according to percentiles. Overweight 4.1% (BMI) and 8.1% (WWCI); Obesity 0.3% (BMI) and 4.2% (WWCI), according to Mean and deviation. Overweight 7.2% (BMI) and 8.0% (WWCI); Obesity 3.3% (BMI) and 3.6% (WWCI), according to Fundacredesa. Averages, by sex, for weight, height, BMI, WC and WWCI, not significant; if the averages of the PGC (p<0,000). ROC curve moves away from the diagonal, coupled with the fact that the area under the curve is 0.983, reflects the goodness of the model, complemented by a high sensitivity and specificity, thus guaranteeing a discriminant power.
Conclusion: The WWCI assessment reflects that it correlates with Weight, Height and BMI, classifies with similar and lower percentages, according to BMI criteria; the ROC curve reveals high Sensitivity and Specificity, which is why it is recommended as an indicator to evaluate overweight and obesity in children.

KEYWORDS: Weight-Waist Circumference Index, Body Mass Index, Overweight, Obesity.