Use Waist-to-Height Ratio to Predict Your Heart Disease Risk
The waist-to-height ratio is used to measure body fat distribution. A higher ratio is related to increased risk of heart disease due to abdominal obesity.
Waist-to-height ratio and BMI are both popular screening tools for health risks connected to obesity. These methods are quick and cost efficient to use.
Researchers presenting a study with more than 2900 individuals at the 2015 European Congress on Obesity determined waist-to-height ratio measurements to be more accurate and more efficient for identifying heart disease risk when compared to using BMI alone.
When using BMI measurements, 41% of men and 29% of women in the study were classified as “normal”, but had waist-to-height ratios above normal. Researchers determine this would equal 12% of the population being misclassified as normal if only BMI measurements were utilized to assess risk.
Lower Blood Pressure by Trimming Your Waistline
Waist circumference has a direct relationship to high blood pressure and lipid (cholesterol) levels.
A study published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine found the greater the Waist-to-Height Ratio the worse the lipid profile and hypertension in adolescents.
This particular study evaluated 4,104 ninth-grade students between the ages of 14 and 15 years-old during the 2009 – 2012 school year. Body mass index was used to classify waist measurements.
The greater the waist-to-height ratio, the greater the risk for poor lipid profiles and high blood pressure compared to those with normal body mass indexes and waist-to-height ratios.
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