Comparative analysis of anthropometric indicators for diagnosing obesity and predicting cardiometabolic risk in Mexican adolescents

Introduction: obesity is a cardiometabolic risk (CMR) factor in adolescents. It represents a public health problem that requires simple diagnostic strategies based on the determination of anthropometric indicators (AIs) such as body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), conicity index (CONI), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), and body fat percentage (BFP). The purpose of the current contribution was to analyze the utility of the aforementioned AIs for evaluating obesity as a CMR factor in Mexican adolescents. Materials and methods: the design of the study is descriptive and cross-sectional. Nutritional status was established by using various AIs and as a CMR factor under the criteria of WHtR. Participating in the present investigation were 2,000 adolescents from 15 to 17 years of age, of which 1,079 (53.9 %) were female and 921 (46.1 %) were male. All were high school students in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, Mexico. Results and conclusion: the prevalence of obesity was influenced by gender. With the WHtR and BFP, male students exhibited a greater prevalence of obesity, while with the BMI and CONI, the percentage of obesity was similar between the two genders. BMI was significantly correlated with BFP, WC and WHtR, and was one of the AIs with the greatest area under the curve, showing a good capacity to predict cardiometabolic risk. BMI is a simple and adequate tool for diagnosing obesity and predicting CMR in adolescents.