The purpose of this study was to investigate the usefulness of triglyceride to hdl-c ratio (TG:HDL-C) as an insulin resistance (IR) marker for overweight and obese children. A total of 271 blood samples of obese and overweight children aged 9-16 years were analysed for fasting glucose, lipids and insulin. Children were divided into IR and non-insulin resistance, using homeostasis model assessment (HOMA). The children were then stratified by tertiles of TG: HDL-C ratio. The strength between TG:HDL-C ratio and other parameters of IR were quantified using Pearson correlation coefficient (r). Odds ratio was estimated using multiple logistic regression adjusted for age, gender, pubertal stages and IR potential risk factors. Children with IR had significantly higher TG:HDL-C ratio (2.48) (p = 0.01). TG:HDL-C ratio was significantly correlated with HOMA-IR (r = 0.104, p
BACKGROUND: Measures of central adiposity are better predictors of adverse health events than BMI. Nonetheless, BMI is more widely used in health research. One reason for this may be the limited research supporting the self-measurement of waist and hip circumference. The lack of validity studies is particularly acute in Asia. The main objective was to establish the validity of self-measurement of waist and hip circumference in a community setting and the correlation of those measures with BMI, blood pressure, and blood glucose levels.
METHODS: A community based, cross-sectional survey. A "healthy living expo" at a shopping mall in a rural town on peninsular Malaysia One hundred and thirty six (136) individuals volunteered to participate in the study, 125 of whom met the inclusion criteria. The ethnic distribution of the participants was 80% Chinese, 17% Malay and 3% Indian. Most participants were female (60%), with participants' ages ranging from 18 to 78 years (mean, 47.2). Self and assisted measurements of waist and hip were taken. Blood pressure, non-fasting blood glucose, height, and weight were also measured. Bland Altman plots and Lin's concordance coefficient were used to measure agreement between self and assisted measures. Pearson's correlation was used to examine the association of self and assisted measures with blood pressure, blood glucose, and BMI.
RESULTS: There was a downwards bias in self measured waist (-0.81 cm) and hip (-1 cm) circumferences compared with assisted measures. The concordance for the self and assisted measures of waist, hip and the ratio of the two were, respectively, .96, .93 , and .84. The correlation between measures of central adiposity and BMI, blood pressure and blood glucose were similar for self and assisted measures.
CONCLUSION: The results provide additional support for the use of self-measurement of waist and hip circumference studies of central adiposity, but is limited by the specificity of the setting.