Presenting Health Status in Children Using a Radar Plot

Background: To try out the feasibility of presenting the health status of children 6 to 12 years old by using radar plots. Methods: With data from the Health Oriented Pedagogical Project (HOPP) we have described the health status for 1340 children aged 6 to 12 years. We collected or calculated: stature, body mass, waist circumference, waist to height ratio, high density lipoprotein (HDL) and total cholesterol concentration, blood pressure, accelerometer assessed physical activity, endurance interval running performance, and quality of life. Pertinent variables were presented through a radar plot for both individual cases and groups. Results: The boys showed better endurance and recorded more moderate to vigorous physical activity than the girls. The activity level dropped from age 6 to age 12 for both sexes. The girls showed a lower systolic blood pressure compared with boys. Self-rated quality of life was high among boys and girls. Conclusions: This cohort showed good health and the radar plot made it easy to visualise health status for groups and individuals.