Contemplating medicine and the health care system
I consider my tape measure my most valuable medical diagnostic tool. This study supports that hypothesis – Waist Circumference Better Than BMI at Predicting Cardiac Risk
Waist circumference (WC) correlates more strongly with several known cardiovascular risk factors than does body mass index (BMI), according to a report in the February issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The findings are based on an analysis of data from 10,969 subjects who participated in the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1998 to 1994.
Dr. Shankuan Zhu, from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, and colleagues found that WC was more strongly tied to lipid profiles, blood pressure, and glucose levels than was BMI.
Among men, the WC cutoffs that provided a cardiovascular risk comparable to BMIs between 25 and 40 were highest for whites, lowest for blacks, and intermediate for Mexican Americans. By contrast, the WC cutoffs among women varied little by ethnicity.
Combining the data from the three ethnic groups, WC cutoffs of 89 and 101 cm in men conferred a cardiovascular risk comparable to BMIs of 25 and 30. The corresponding cutoffs among women were 83 and 94 cm.
For those metrically challenged, these cutoffs correspond to:
34.7 – 39.4 (for men)
32.4 – 36.7 (for women)
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2 Responses to The value of a tape measure
John Anderson
February 22nd, 2005 at 9:31 pm
Don’t know how far this will go, but I do think waist (or waist-height relationship) is easier and at least as likely to be accurate as BMI. I doubt that Michael Jordan and other athletes (perhaps excluding top weight lifters, in the lifting 600-lb and over range, and professional divers), overweight by BMI, would look so via waist measurement. Or that Marilyn Monroe would have been considered dangerously underweight.
DB’s Medical Rants » Maybe we should have a small spare tire
April 20th, 2005 at 6:53 am
[...] 21; patients have acceptable waist circumference. So go back and read this earlier rant – The value of a tape measure. Possibly we should classify obesity not throug [...]