Waist-to-Height Ratio

WHtR (from English W aist-to- H eigh t R atio 'waist-to-height ratio' ) describes the ratio between waist size and height . In contrast to the widespread body mass index (BMI), it is intended to make a statement about the distribution of body fat and thus allow greater informative value with regard to the health relevance of obesity .

According to an eight-year study by the Munich Ludwig Maximilians University with over 11,000 test subjects, the WHtR is better suited as an index for assessing health risks, as more precise conclusions can be drawn about the proportion of abdominal fat that is harmful to health .

The main advantage of the WHtR compared to the BMI is that the BMI only allows a small amount of information to be provided about the health-relevant causes of being overweight or underweight , since very muscular men, for example, have a high BMI.

Not to be confused with the WHtR is the WHR (waist-hip ratio, W AIST-to- h ip r atio ) , which was originally introduced primarily as a body aesthetic level, but also an estimate of the distribution of body fat allowed.

calculation

The WHtR is calculated as follows:

{\ displaystyle {\ mbox {WHtR}} = {\ frac {u} {l}}}

wherein the waist circumference and the height in centimeters indicates. ${\ displaystyle u}$ ${\ displaystyle l}$

WHtR limit values
Age	Critical area
<40	> 0.5
40-50	0.5-0.6
> 50	> 0.6

Between the ages of 40 and 50, the critical value shifts upwards by 0.01 per year. So at 40 it is 0.50, at 41 it is 0.51, at 42 it is 0.52, and so on.

literature

CM Lee, Huxley RR, Wildman RP, Woodward M: Indices of abdominal obesity are better discriminators of cardiovascular risk factors than BMI: a meta-analysis . In: Journal of Clinical Epidemiology . 61, No. 7, July 2008, pp. 646-653. PMID 18359190 .

Individual evidence

↑ Harald J. Schneider, et al .: The Predictive Value of Different Measures of Obesity for Incident Cardiovascular Events and Mortality. In: The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism , 95 (2010), No. 4, pp. 1777-1785 (English, PDF ; 324 kB).
↑ Body mass index gets its fat away ( stern.de ).

[1] Harald J. Schneider, et al .: The Predictive Value of Different Measures of Obesity for Incident Cardiovascular Events and Mortality. In: The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism , 95 (2010), No. 4, pp. 1777-1785 (English, PDF ; 324 kB).

[2] Body mass index gets its fat away ( stern.de ).