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European Journal of Education Studies ISSN: 2501 - 1111 ISSN-L: 2501 - 1111 Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu doi: 10.5281/zenodo.1042583 Volume 3 │Issue 10 │2017 AN INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WAIST CIRCUMFERENCES AND WAIST-TO-HEIGHT RATIOS WITH DIFFERENT VARIABLES IN WOMEN WITH AGES BETWEEN 18 AND 53 YEARS H. Bayram Temuri, Firdevs Eriş Yüzüncü Yıl University, Physical Education and Sports High School, Van, Turkey Abstract: The aim of this study is to investigate whether waist circumference and waist-to-height ratios in women are affected by such factors as age, marital status, age at first marriage, parental status, number of children, and regular physical activity. Furthermore, the relationship between chronic diseases and waist circumference and waist-to-height ratios will also be examined. A total of 111 women were randomly selected to participate in this study, of average age 32.26 ± 8.74 years, mean height 162.76 ± 5.44 cm, and average weight 67.38 ± 11.74 kg. In addition to height, weight, and age, waist circumferences and waist-to-height ratios were also determined. Questionnaires recorded the participants’ marital status, age at first marriage, number of children, smoking status, exercise habits, and any chronic health conditions. ANOVA and the student’s t-test were used to analyze these data. Results indicated that waist circumference was significantly associated with age, number of children, marital status, menopausal status, regular exercise, parental status, and the presence of a chronic health condition (p < 0.01), as well as with marital status (p < 0.05). Waist circumference was not found to have a statistically significant association with smoking status (p < 0.05). Waist-to-height ratios were determined to associated with age, marital status, menopausal status, regular exercise, parental status, and chronic health conditions (p < 0.01) and with age at first marriage (p < 0.05), while the relationships with number of children and smoking status were not found to be statistically significant (p > 0.05). Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved. © 2015 – 2017 Open Access Publishing Group 692 H. Bayram Temur, Firdevs Eriş AN INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WAIST CIRCUMFERENCES AND WAIST-TO-HEIGHT RATIOS WITH DIFFERENT VARIABLES IN WOMEN WITH AGES BETWEEN 18 AND 53 YEARS Keywords: age, waist circumference, waist-to-height ratios, marital status, age at first marriage, physical activity 1. Introduction Humans require energy for their survival. The energy that we need is acquired through food, which is processed by our bodies. When the energy obtained by the body is greater than the energy expended an increase in fat tissue in the body results. This is referred to as excess weight or obesity. Obesity, although defined simply as increased fat tissue in the body, is the accumulation of fat (adipose) tissue in the body at an abnormal or excessive level that compromises health (1, 2, 3). It is a complex multifactorial chronic disease, thought to result from the interaction of social, behavioral, cultural, physiological, metabolic, and genetic factors (4, 5). It has been reported that obesity may lead to physical and psychological problems of a global dimension which are significantly associated with morbidity and mortality (1, 6). There are various methods used to clinically evaluate obesity levels. Among these are Body Mass Index (BMI), waist circumference, waist-to-height ratio, body weight, and hip circumference (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12). These methods are more widely employed than others because they are simple and easy to use, have high correlation rates between them, and lower error rates versus other methods (7, 8, 9). However, BMI is not an optimal indicator of body fat, as it cannot distinguish fat from muscle tissue and bone. Because of this, reliance on BMI may result in incorrect classification of people as either overweight or obese. Furthermore, BMI is not a suitable method for distinguishing body fat distribution, being less sensitive than waist circumference and waist-to-height ratio (13). Waist circumference is a simple to use and practical method to measure fat content in the abdominal region (4, 5). The accumulation of fat around the abdomen occurs more frequently than in the hips and other areas of the body, and poses greater health risks (14, 15). Waist circumference best reflects accumulation in the abdominal region, internal organs and subcutaneous fat, as well as abdominal muscle tone (16, 17, 18) and is one of the criteria which should be taken into consideration in assessing overall health (19). In addition, although there are minor differences in their estimations of cardiovascular risk, waist circumference and waist-to-height ratio have been reported to better assess cardiovascular risk than BMI or waist/hip ratio (20). For viewing / downloading the full article, please access the following link: https://oapub.org/edu/index.php/ejes/article/view/1162 European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 10 │ 2017 693