title: Measures of abdominal obesity within body mass index categories, 1981 and 2007-2009.
abstract: This article describes measures of abdominal obesity--waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, and waist-to-height ratio--within body mass index (BMI) categories, using data from two population-based health surveys. Among normal-weight men, the percentages at increased/high health risk based on these three measures were not statistically different in 2007-2009 than in 1981. By contrast, among normal-weight women, increases were observed in the percentage at increased/high health risk based on each of the three measures. The percentage of overweight men at increased/high risk based on waist circumference rose from 49% in 1981 to 62% in 2007-2009, and among overweight women, the percentage at increased/high risk rose for each of the three measures (64% to 93% for waist circumference, 22% to 51% for waist-to-hip ratio, and 68% to 87% for waist-to-height ratio). Although substantial percentages of men and women in obese class I were at increased/high health risk based on abdominal obesity measures in 1981, by 2007-2009, almost everyone in this BMI category was at increased/high risk.
authors.affiliation: Health Analysis Division, Statistics Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0T6. margot.shields@statcan.gc.ca
authors.forename: Margot
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shields
authors.forename: Mark S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Tremblay
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Connor Gorber
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Janssen
mesh_terms: D050153:Abdominal Fat; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000886:Anthropometry; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology*; D049629:Waist-Hip Ratio; D055815:Young Adult