Trajectories in waist circumference and waist-to-height ratio with left ventricular hypertrophy in childhood.

Background and objective: Previous studies have shown positive associations of waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) among children and adolescents. However, most of these studies were cross-sectional or limited to only two time points. We aim to estimate the association of trajectories in WC and WHtR with LVH during childhood. Methods: Data were from the prospective "Huantai Childhood Cardiovascular Health Cohort Study" conducted from 2017 to 2023 in Huantai County, Zibo City, Shandong Province. Group-based trajectory modeling was used to categorize WC into three groups: low-increasing, moderate-increasing, and high-increasing trajectories. Similarly, WHtR was categorized into three groups: stabilizing, decreasing, and increasing trajectories. Linear and log-binomial regression analyses were used to examine the associations of WC and WHtR trajectories with increased left ventricular mass index (LVMI) and LVH. Results: A total of 946 children were included, with 51.9% being boys and an average age of 8 years at baseline. After adjustment for potential covariates, children in the high-increasing WC group and the increasing WHtR trajectory group had increased LVMI ( Conclusion: We found the risk of LVH was not fully eliminated among children with a decreasing WHtR trajectory. These findings underscore the need for early prevention and continuous monitoring of WC and WHtR to help prevent future sub-clinical cardiovascular damage in childhood.