Mahmoud I, Al-Wandi AS, Gharaibeh SS, Mohamed SA. Concordances and correlations between anthropometric indices of obesity: a systematic review.
Public Health 2021;
198:301-306. [PMID:
34507136 DOI:
10.1016/j.puhe.2021.07.042]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2021] [Revised: 07/13/2021] [Accepted: 07/30/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES
The pandemic of overweight and obesity has become a major clinical and public health concern worldwide. Anthropometric indices are indirect and quantitative tools used to identify individuals at increased risk of body fat-related morbidity. The aim of this systematic review was to assess the concordances and correlations between anthropometric indices of obesity in adults and whether these indices can be used interchangeably.
STUDY DESIGN
Systematic review.
METHODS
A literature search was conducted in three databases of peer-reviewed publications (PubMed, Scopus, and Embase). Further, the first 10 pages of Google Scholar were also searched for relevant studies.
RESULTS
There were strong correlations between body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) and between BMI and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), and a weak correlation between BMI and neck circumference (NC). There was a very strong correlation between WC and WHtR and a moderate correlation between WC and NC. There were moderate concordances between BMI and WC and between BMI and WHtR and good concordance between WC and WHtR.
CONCLUSION
BMI, WC, and WHtR indices can be moderately used interchangeably with caution. More studies in adult populations using statistical tests of concordance and adjusting for differences in ethnicity, age, gender, and weight quantiles are needed.
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