Objective: To create age and gender specific Triceps Skinfold Thickness percentile curves for Indian children; and to determine cut-offs for predicting the risk of childhood hypertension.
Design: Cross-sectional.
Setting: Multicentric, school-based, 5 major Indian cities.
Participants: 13375 children (7590 boys) aged 5-17 years.
Procedure: Data on height, weight, blood pressure, triceps skinfold thickness (using Harpenden Skinfold caliper) were collected. Reference triceps skinfold thickness percentile curves were derived for boys and girls by LMS (lambda-mu-sigma) method. Receiver operating curve analyses were performed to determine the optimal cut-off of triceps skinfold thickness centile for predicting the risk of hypertension.
Results: Percentile curves for boys plateau around 13 years whereas for girls the curves increase steadily till the age of 17 years. Median triceps skinfold thickness increased by 7% to 9% till the age of 9 years in boys and girls. After 12 years, median triceps skinfold thickness decreased by 1% to 2% in boys but increased by 3% to 4% in girls. The optimal cut-off percentile yielding maximal sensitivity (68%) and specificity (74-78%) for predicting high blood pressure was the 70th triceps skinfold thickness percentile in both genders.
Conclusion: Percentile curves for triceps skinfold thickness developed in the present study would be useful in the assessment of adiposity and the risk of hypertension in Indian children.