The authors examined the association between waist circumference and mortality among 154,776 men and 90,757 women aged 51–72 years at baseline (1996–1997) in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study. Additionally, the combined effects of waist circumference and body mass index (BMI; weight (kg)/height (m)) were examined. All-cause mortality was assessed over 9 years of follow-up (1996–2005). After ad...

We have recently performed a systematic review which collated seventy eight cross-sectional and prospective studies exploring waist-to-height ratio and waist circumference or body mass index as predictors of diabetes and cardiovascular disease published in English between 1950 and 2008. This review, which also employed specificity and sensitivity comparisons, indicated that waist-to-height rati...

BACKGROUND Previous studies have relied predominantly on the body-mass index (BMI, the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters) to assess the association of adiposity with the risk of death, but few have examined whether the distribution of body fat contributes to the prediction of death. METHODS We examined the association of BMI, waist circumference, and waist-to-h...

BACKGROUND Body size has been hypothesized to influence the risk of prostate cancer; however, most epidemiologic studies have relied on body mass index (BMI) to assess adiposity, whereas only a few studies have examined whether body fat distribution predicts prostate cancer. METHODS We examined the association of height, BMI, waist and hip circumference, and waist-hip ratio with prostate canc...

BACKGROUND Body Mass Index (BMI) does not distinguish between fat-free mass and fat mass, yet this distinction is important as a clinical tool, especially in the military and occupations for which physical fitness is important. AIM This study assessed the level of agreement between BMI, sum of skin-folds and waist circumference in UK Army personnel. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Three hundred and ei...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Waist circumference has been shown to be a better predictor of cardiovascular risk than body mass index (BMI). Our case-control study aimed to evaluate the contribution of obesity and abdominal fat mass to the risk of stroke and transient ischemic attacks (TIA). METHODS We recruited 1137 participants: 379 cases with stroke/TIA and 758 regional controls matched for age a...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES With an increased incidence of obesity in China, this study sought to investigate the correlation between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and adiposity phenotypes in Chinese adults from urban settings. METHODS AND STUDY DESIGN A total of 1277 subjects aged 20-82 years old were recruited into this cross-sectional study. Anthropometric parameters and blood biochemistr...

BACKGROUND Television viewing time (TV time) is associated with increased weight and obesity, but it is unclear whether this relation is causal. METHODS AND RESULTS We evaluated changes in TV time, waist circumference (waist) and body mass index (BMI) in participants of the population-based Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns study (761 women, 626 men aged 33-50 years in 2011). Waist and BMI w...