Waist circumference,hip circumference,waist-hip ratio and related indices among elementary and middle school students in Beijing

Objective To understand students' waist circumference,the hip circumference and the waist-hip ratio(WHR) and the relationship to age,gender and feature,so as to provide the scientific basis for the early prevention.Methods A descriptive method was used to analyze the Beijing students'(aged 7-18 years) waist circumference,hip circumference and the WHR,and the correlation between distributional characters and the other indices were also analyzed.Results The students' waist circumference,hip circumference increased with the age,and the both indices increased quickly before 12 years old.WHR decreases with the age and boys' waist circumference and WHR were higher than the girls' in every age group(P0.01).There were statistical significant differences of waist circumference between genders(P0.05) except for the group of 10-12 years old and 13-15 years old(P0.05).The students with different body shape had different waist circumference,the hip circumference and the WHR: obesity groupoverweight groupnormal group(P0.01).The boys' WHR(r=-0.353,P0.01) had negative correlation with height,and girls' WHR had negative correlation with weight(r=0.084,P0.01).Conclusion Beijing boys' and girls' waist and hip circumference and waist-hip ratio increase with age,but the growth indices of the students with different body shape are significantly various.