We suggest that a simple, rapid screening tool-the waist-to-height ratio (WHTR)-could help to overcome debates about the use of different body mass index (BMI) boundary values for assessing health risks in different populations. There are six reasons for our proposal: WHTR is more sensitive than BMI as an early warning of health risks. WHTR is cheaper and easier to measure and calculate than BM...

BACKGROUND Obesity is a strong risk factor for hyperglycemia. However, the performance of waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist circumference (WC) and body mass index (BMI) in predicting hyperglycemia was inconclusive; and ethnic differences may exist in the associations. OBJECTIVE The objective was to compare WHtR, WC, WHR and BMI in predicting hyperglycemia among Chi...

BACKGROUND The waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) is an easy and inexpensive adiposity index that reflects central obesity. In this study, we examined the association of baseline WHtR and progression of coronary artery calcification (CAC) over 4 years of follow-up in apparently healthy Korean men. METHODS A total of 1,048 male participants (mean age, 40.9 years) in a health-screening program in Kan...

BACKGROUND Indices predictive of adolescent central obesity include waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR). Such reference data are lacking for Greek adolescents. The aim of this study was to develop age- and gender-specific WC, WHR and WHtR smoothed reference percentiles for abdominal obesity among Greek adolescents aged 12-17 years, to investigate ...

The aims of this study were to assess the diagnostic value of the weight-to-height ratio (WHtR) for the detection of obesity and metabolic syndrome (MS) in Korean children and adolescents, and to determine the advantages of WHtR as a population-based screening tool in comparison with other obesity indicators, such as body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC). We performed a cross-secti...

PURPOSE We aimed to investigate the association of body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) with cardiometabolic risk. METHODS In this cross-sectional study, 21,038 men and 15,604 women who participated in a health check-up were included. RESULTS In both men and women, the area under the curve (AUC) of WHtR was significantly greater than that of BMI ...

This systematic review collated seventy-eight studies exploring waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) and waist circumference (WC) or BMI as predictors of diabetes and CVD, published in English between 1950 and 2008. Twenty-two prospective analyses showed that WHtR and WC were significant predictors of these cardiometabolic outcomes more often than BMI, with similar OR, sometimes being significant predi...

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVES Early detection of reduced insulin sensitivity (IS) and insulin resistance (IR) is desirable. The aim here was to evaluate correlations of anthropometric indicators for identifying IR or IS and determine the cutoff points of the most effective indicators. DESIGN AND SETTING Cross-sectional study in the city of São Paulo. METHODS Sixty-one individuals with normal fasti...

To explore a scientific boundary of WHtR to evaluate central obesity and CVD risk factors in a Chinese adult population. The data are from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) China study that was conducted from 2005-2007. The final study sample consisted of 43 841 participants (18 019 men and 25 822 women) aged 35-70 years. According to the group of CVD risk factors proposed by Join...

OBJECTIVE This study compares the waist-height ratio (WHTR) with other anthropometric indicators of obesity: waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), conicity index (Index C), and body mass index (BMI)) to discriminate the level of coronary risk (HCR). METHOD A cross sectional study of a subgroup of participants in the project 'Monitoring of Cardiovascular Diseases and Diabetes in ...