Table 1.
Waist circumference percentiles for European-American children and adolescents, according to sex [adapted from 7]a
| Age, years | Percentiles for boys, cm |
Percentiles for girls, cm |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10th | 50th | 90th | 10th | 50th | 90th | |
| 2 | 42.9 | 47.1 | 50.6 | 43.1 | 47.4 | 52.5 |
| 3 | 44.7 | 49.2 | 54.0 | 44.7 | 49.3 | 55.4 |
| 4 | 46.5 | 51.3 | 57.4 | 46.3 | 51.2 | 58.2 |
| 5 | 48.3 | 53.3 | 60.8 | 47.9 | 53.1 | 61.1 |
| 6 | 50.1 | 55.4 | 64.2 | 49.5 | 55.0 | 64.0 |
| 7 | 51.9 | 57.5 | 67.6 | 51.1 | 56.9 | 66.8 |
| 8 | 53.7 | 59.6 | 71.0 | 52.7 | 58.8 | 69.7 |
| 9 | 55.5 | 61.7 | 74.3 | 54.3 | 60.7 | 72.6 |
| 10 | 57.3 | 63.7 | 77.7 | 55.9 | 62.5 | 75.5 |
| 11 | 59.1 | 65.8 | 81.1 | 57.5 | 64.4 | 78.3 |
| 12 | 60.9 | 67.9 | 84.5 | 59.1 | 66.3 | 81.2 |
| 13 | 62.7 | 70.0 | 87.9 | 60.7 | 68.2 | 84.1 |
| 14 | 64.5 | 72.1 | 91.3 | 62.3 | 70.1 | 86.9 |
| 15 | 66.3 | 74.1 | 94.7 | 63.9 | 72.0 | 89.8 |
| 16 | 68.1 | 76.2 | 98.1 | 65.5 | 73.9 | 92.7 |
| 17 | 69.9 | 78.3 | 101.5 | 67.1 | 75.8 | 95.5 |
| 18 | 71.7 | 80.4 | 104.9 | 68.7 | 77.7 | 98.4 |
a
Having a waist circumference greater than the 90th percentile increases the risk for the presence of cardio-vascular risk factors and insulin resistance.