- Body mass index (BMI) has long been used as a tool for weight management and intervention, but experts say it has many flaws.
- They say waist-to-hip ratio may be a more accurate indicator of risk of mortality from all causes.
- They add that waist-to-hip ratio may be a more useful tool in healthcare interventions.
Waist-to-hip ratio may be a better tool for determining weight management than body mass index (BMI), according to a new
Research published this week in the journal JAMA Network Open reports that waist-to-hip ratio may be more useful than BMI in determining health risks and medical interventions.
For their study, the researchers examined data from 387,672 participants based in the United Kingdom. They compared data on BMI, fat mass index, and waist-to-hip ratio.
“Compared with BMI, [waist-to-hip ratio] had the strongest, most robust, and consistent association with all-cause mortality and was the only measurement unaffected by BMI. Current WHO recommendations for optimal BMI range are inaccurate across individuals with various body compositions and therefore suboptimal for clinical guidelines,” the researchers wrote.
“Future research is needed to explore whether using WHR as the primary clinical measure of adiposity (body fat) would help to improve long-term health outcomes in distinct patient populations compared with BMI. Our results provide further support to shift public health focus from measures of general adiposity, such as BMI, to adiposity distribution using [waist-to-hip ratio],” the study authors added.
Waist-to-hip ratio is the circumference of the waist divided by the circumference of the hip.
In both men and women, a waist-to-hip ratio of 1.0 or above is considered at risk for conditions such as heart disease.
Those who carry excessive fat around their midsection may be at
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