Hips don't lie: India to ditch BMI, track waist-to-hip ratio to fight obesity
“It is not always easy and practically unfeasible to measure hip circumference in clothed persons, particularly for women in rural communities. In recent years WHtR
“It is not always easy and practically unfeasible to measure hip circumference in clothed persons, particularly for women in rural communities. In recent years WHtR has been recognised as a good measure of abdominal obesity.
Many international agencies (such as Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) in the UK) have adopted it in preference to BMI. A WHtR of more than 0.5 spells a high risk of diabetes and heart disease.
WHtR was first validated in children and later in adults, in different parts of the world. As an easy to measure index, it would be more feasible for use by frontline workers in primary care.
It will also be easy for even lay persons in the community to use as a serial self measured index of risk reduction over time, if they are made aware of it.”
The BriefWire