Waist-to-height ratio

[2] More than twenty-five years ago, WHtR was first suggested as a simple health risk assessment tool because "it is a proxy for harmful central adiposity";[3] it predicts obesity-related cardiovascular disease.

[6] According to World Health Organization guidance, the waist circumference is usually measured midway between the lower rib and the iliac crest.

[10] The October 2022 NICE guidelines recommend boundary values for WHtR (defining the degree of "central adiposity" (abdominal obesity)) as follows: NICE say that these classifications can be used for people with a body mass index (BMI) of under 35, for both sexes and all ethnicities, including adults with high muscle mass.

The health risks associated with higher levels of central adiposity include type 2 diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease.

[11] Boundary values were first suggested for WHtR in 1996 to reflect health implications and were portrayed on a simple chart of waist circumference against height.

[9] A 2013 study identified critical threshold values according to age, with consequent significant reduction in life expectancy if exceeded.

Cross-sectional studies in many different global populations have supported the premise that WHtR is a simple and effective anthropometric index to identify health risks in adults of all ages,[20][21][25][26] and in children and adolescents.