Abdominal fat, not just weight, signals heart risk: study

Waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio offer a more accurate assessment of cardiovascular disease risk than the traditional Body Mass Index (BMI), a study spanning two decades and over 260,000 individuals suggests. While BMI is commonly used to evaluate overweight and obesity, researchers highlight its limitation in not indicating body fat distribution, a crucial factor for health risks.

The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, found that individuals with a normal BMI but high levels of abdominal fat and an elevated waist-to-hip ratio face a significantly greater risk of heart disease and stroke. "If waist circumference is not taken into account... it can lead to an erroneous classification," the researchers stated.

Dr. Michael Blaha from Johns Hopkins University, who led the study, noted that people with normal weight or who are overweight, but possess high abdominal adiposity and a large waist-to-hip ratio, exhibit higher risks than what BMI alone would indicate. The analysis revealed that these measurements are associated with a 15% to 50% increased risk of stroke and cardiovascular diseases.

Echoing these findings, Dr. Harlan Krumholz, editor-in-chief of the journal and a specialist not involved in the research, urged a change in focus. "It is time to stop focusing exclusively on body mass index," he stated. Krumholz emphasized that the study provides robust evidence for the importance of measuring abdominal fat in cardiovascular health assessments, concluding that simple measurements like waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio should be part of routine cardiovascular risk evaluations.