Decreases in waist circumference are a critically important treatment target for reducing potential health risk, says Robert Ross and 16 colleagues from Canada’s Queen’s University, Kingston.
Their findings, published in Nature Reviews Endocrinology, emphasise that healthcare professionals should routinely measure waist circumference alongside body mass index (BMI) to properly assess and manage obesity related health risks.
Mr Ross and his co-authors summarise the evidence that BMI alone isn’t enough to evaluate cardiometabolic risk associated with obesity.
For example, although many individuals with overweight or obesity develop cardiometabolic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease, others remain metabolically healthy. Obesity varies greatly due to differences in age, ethnicity and environmental factors.
The authors of the review report that health practitioners should be trained to properly measure waist circumference.
