Differential relationship between waist circumference and mortality according to age, sex, and body mass index in Korean with age of 30–90 years; a nationwide health insurance database study

Abstract

2018 * Received: 29 July 2017 * Accepted: 2 July 2018 * Published: 10 August 2018 Open Peer Review reports Abstract Background A recent concept is that obesity, assessed by body mass index (BMI), is not always a sign of poor health. [...]in order to use obesity metrics in clinical decision making, it is important to clarify the relationship between waist circumference (WC), a proxy for abdominal obesity, and mortality. [...]Asians tend to develop metabolic deterioration with relatively lower degrees of obesity and might have a differential relationship between WC and mortality compared to other ethnic groups. [...]there has been no prospective cohort study to examine the specific effects of age, sex, and BMI on the relationship between WC and mortality in Asians. [...]although the current guidelines of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists/American College of Endocrinology recommend only measuring WC in overweight or obese people [24], it would certainly be important to measure WC in combination with BMI in all patients and especially in subjects with a normal BMI.