Study suggests not all obesity means ill-health
The study says BMI alone misclassifies many patients and that only about 27% of those labeled obese have clinical obesity.
- On Wednesday, King's College London researchers published a study in Nature testing a diagnostic framework that adds waist circumference and body-fat measurements to BMI across 844,108 adults from four countries.
- BMI alone is a blunt measure that ignores fat distribution and organ dysfunction. The new framework distinguishes 'pre-clinical obesity' and 'clinical obesity' to enable personalized, proportionate treatment based on individual health risks.
- Results show BMI overestimated obesity in up to 3.1% of people and underestimated it in up to 8.6%, potentially flipping diagnoses for millions and increasing overall prevalence by up to 7.4% versus BMI alone.
- Clinical obesity carries a 69% higher death risk than people without obesity or organ dysfunction, whereas pre-clinical obesity showed a 19% increase. Roughly 82% of pre-clinical cases did not progress to clinical obesity over a decade.
- Professor Francesco Rubino, the study's senior author, stated the framework aims to "provide a meaningful clinical characterization of obesity that can inform care and policy," with treatment intensity matched to individual health risks.
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Only between 25% and 33% of people currently diagnosed with obesity should be considered as having a poor state of health, according to a study published on Wednesday in Nature magazine, which joins calls for a reform of the way in which this condition is diagnosed. The study follows a proposal formulated last year by ...
A study of nearly 850,000 adults shows that obesity does not automatically mean a person has health problems. Researchers found that only between 25% and 33% of those currently diagnosed with the condition should be considered in poor health. The results, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, could change the way doctors diagnose and choose the right treatment for each patient.
The Body Mass Index (BMI) is the most commonly used method for diagnosing obesity worldwide. While it has the advantage of being easily calculated using only weight and height, it is also criticized for failing to accurately assess actual health risks, as it does not properly reflect individual characteristics such as age and gender.
Those who want to know whether they are overweight or even obese should not only determine their body mass index, because this alone is too inaccurate. Therefore, additional simple measurements are recommended.
New scientific study recommends combining body mass index with other measures such as waist circumference to better diagnose obesity Assess obesity beyond the index
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