title: An examination of the relationships between service use and alternative measures of obesity among community-dwelling adults in Ireland.
abstract: Obesity has received increased attention arising from its increasing prevalence and the implications of obesity-related problems for society and the wider economy. To estimate healthcare and non-healthcare obesity impacts, many studies rely on body mass index (BMI) as a measure of obesity. However BMI is considered to be a noisy measure of total body fat that unlike some other measures does not capture fat distribution. This study uses one such measure, the waist-to-hip ratio, as both an alternative and in conjunction with BMI in the estimation of the relationship between adiposity and health service use. The article uses data from a large-scale study of older adults living in Ireland (the Tilda data set). The findings indicate that studies that include both measures of general and central adiposity may provide a more comprehensive characterisation of the relationship between healthcare service use and adiposity.
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Economics, J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics, Galway, Ireland.
authors.forename: Edel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Doherty
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Economics, J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics, Galway, Ireland.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Queally
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Economics, J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics, Galway, Ireland. ciaran.oneill@nuigalway.ie.
authors.forename: Ciaran
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: O'Neill
mesh_terms: D050154:Adiposity; D000367:Age Factors; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001837:Body Weights and Measures / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006296:Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D049629:Waist-Hip Ratio
keywords: Adiposity; BMI; Health service use; Waist to hip