Study Finds Belly Size Beats BMI at Predicting Heart Attacks
The study found waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio improved risk prediction in 260,000 people over 20 years, researchers said.
- A new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology shows waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio are better predictors of cardiovascular risk than BMI alone, challenging current diagnostic standards.
- BMI is widely used to diagnose obesity, but it fails to distinguish between fat and muscle or identify where fat is stored. Visceral fat surrounding internal organs is more metabolically active than subcutaneous fat, promoting cardiovascular disease.
- Researchers analyzed data from 260,000 people over 20 years, finding that normal-weight or overweight individuals with elevated central adiposity face a 15% to 50% greater risk for most cardiovascular outcomes.
- Yale School of Medicine's Harlan Krumholz called for abandoning sole focus on BMI, saying "where fat is distributed matters" and should be part of routine risk assessment.
- Relying solely on BMI may result in misclassification of cardiovascular risk, as some individuals with obesity have lower abdominal fat and reduced risk. Study lead author Zeina Dardari encourages clinicians to consider central adiposity across the entire BMI spectrum.
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14 Articles
Waist size predicts heart disease risk better than body mass index
The size of a person's midsection is a better indicator of cardiovascular disease risk when compared to their body mass index (BMI) alone, according to a study published in JACC, the flagship journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Waist Measurements May Reveal Heart Disease Risk That BMI Misses
Body mass index (BMI) may not tell the whole story about a person’s cardiovascular risk. A large study suggests that measuring where body fat is carried—particularly around the waist—can reveal important differences in risk that BMI alone may miss. The findings, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), show that people with the same BMI can have substantially different cardiovascular risks depending on how much fat …
InsideNoVA.com
Study finds belly size beats BMI at predicting heart attacks
Researchers found that body mass index, or BMI, doesn't reflect overall body composition as abdominal fat is not measured.
The BMI does not say anything about belly fat. This, according to a large study, can cause heart risks to be underestimated.
Abdominal fat predicts heart disease risk better than BMI, study shows
The size of a person's midsection is a better indicator of cardiovascular disease risk than body mass index (BMI) alone, according to a study published in JACC. BMI has traditionally been used to determine overweight or obesity, common risk factors for heart disease, but this study shows that not accounting for waist circumference (WC) or waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) can lead to misclassification of cardiovascular disease risk.
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