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Waist-to-height ratio outperforms BMI in predicting heart disease risk(medicalxpress.com)
39 points by bikenaga 2 days ago | 13 comments
  • Graziano_Ma day ago

    No way, a measure of fat around your midsection is a better predictor than height and weight, not accounting at all for composition?

    • andreareina20 hours ago |parent

      This is a meme that fails to understand the actual, in practice limitations of BMI. The problem is that it underdiagnoses obesity, not that it overdiagnoses it. The problem isn't the nonexistent horde of lean muscular people with BMI > 25, it's all the clinically obese people with BMI < 30 thinking that yeah they're overweight but it's not that bad, they're not obese.

      https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2877506/#:~:text=BM...

      • kelipso17 hours ago |parent

        It's really easy for a healthy man to get BMI >25 with a few months of weight lifting. Frankly, denial and downplaying of this fact just increases skepticism of BMI and the people who say it's a relevant metric.

      • UltraSane12 hours ago |parent

        It doesn't take that much muscle for men to get high BMIs

    • snthpy21 hours ago |parent

      Idk. At one point I was at 11% body fat and still had BMI over 25. (83kg and 1.82m) I don't think I've ever been BMI < 25.

      • Graziano_M8 hours ago |parent

        I'm agreeing. I'm rather fit, low bodyfat %, and my BMI is about 27

  • bikenaga2 days ago

    Original article: "Waist-to-height ratio and coronary artery calcium incidence: the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil)" - https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanam/article/PIIS2667-19...

  • teklaa day ago

    If you're at the point where waist to height ratio vs BMI is something you debate about, you're already too fat

    • m463a day ago |parent

      the lancet article is hard to just read and says it is a better predictor.

      I imagine there are people who think they are ok, who are not, but I can't tell if it goes the other way.

      • andreareina20 hours ago |parent

        The problem with BMI in practice is that it underdiagnoses obesity. W:H fixes that. If BMI says you're obese, you're very likely to be obese.

        https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2877506/#:~:text=BM...

  • BobbyTables2a day ago

    I’ve gained about 15 lbs from my younger days and lost 2” from the waist. Stomach sticks out now, didn’t back then.

    So - progress ?!?!

    Almost seems saying “floor breaking when stepped on strongly correlated with arterial blockage.”

  • BugsJustFindMea day ago

    They should use skeletal length instead of height to account for spine curvature disorders.

    • _aavaa_a day ago |parent

      They should account for the difference between the two to control for comorbidities.