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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 A British study published this month in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition gave further evidence for that view. Researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine studied nearly 15,000 patients over age 75 and concluded that it is not appropriate to use BMI to calculate death risk in this age group. They noted that the health risks associated with a high BMI are known to decline with age.
By contrast, the researchers said waist-hip ratio "is a measure of body shape and, to some extent, of lower trunk adiposity [abdominal fat]."
In other words, waist-hip ratio is better than BMI at spotting the "pot belly," a notoriously unhealthy pattern of fat deposition as it relates to cardiovascular function.
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"We conclude that the association observed for waist-hip ratio and mortality is probably explained by abdominal adiposity," the U.K. group added.
But even though waist-hip-ratio may be a better marker than BMI in most cases, BMI is still an important indicator of risk for people who are very obese, Lopez-Jimenez said.
"The group of people with BMI of 35 or higher had a bad outcome," he said. Oftentimes, he said, "patients with BMIs of 35 to 40 naively believe that they have a lot of muscle. In [these] extreme cases, fat determines the measurement."
One expert urged caution in interpreting the results of the new study.
Dr. Robert H. Eckel, professor of medicine at the University of Colorado and immediate past president of the American Heart Association, noted that people in the study were followed for a relatively short time -- a bit less than four years on average.
"You need a much longer period to determine risk," Eckel said. "Four years would not be enough to determine the impact of measures taken, such as controlling high blood pressure. We still want to prevent obesity, despite what this study shows and might not show."
More information
To calculate your own BMI, head to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc.gov ).
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