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Measures of abdominal obesity within body mass index categories, 1981 and 2007-2009

Publication: Health Reports 2012:23(2) www.statcan.gc.ca/healthreports

Authors: Margot Shields, Mark S. Tremblay, Sarah Connor Gorber and Ian Janssen

Data: 2007 to 2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey

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 (65% 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.

Full article

For more information about this article, contact Margot Shields (1-613-951-4177; margot.shields@statcan.gc.ca), Health Analysis Division, Statistics Canada.