Overweight, fat patterning, and cardiovascular disease risk factors in black and white girls: The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the association of overweight and central adiposity with cardiovascular disease risk factors in black and white 9- and 10-year-old girls.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional analysis of baseline data collected from participants in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study. Girls were classified as overweight or not with the use of the age- and sex-specific 85th percentiles of the body mass index (kilograms per square meter) distributions from the combined NHANES (I and II) data set. Mean indexes of central adiposity, blood pressure levels, and lipid concentrations and the clustering of risk factors based on published cut points were compared between weight groups by race and by central adiposity group within weight and race groups.

RESULTS

Overweight was associated with increased risk factor levels and with increased clustering in both black and white girls. Among overweight girls greater central adiposity was associated with higher risk factor levels and increased clustering.

CONCLUSIONS

Given the associations between cardiovascular disease risk factors and both overweight and central adiposity, the secular trends toward increased obesity in American youth portend a worsening of cardiovascular disease risk profiles.