Waist-to-hip ratio

Waist-hip ratio

The waist circumference measurement divided by the hip circumference measurement.
For both men and women, a waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) of 1.0 or higher is considered "at risk" for undesirable health consequences, such as heart disease and ailments associated with overweight.
A healthy WHR is 0.90 or less for men, and 0.85 or less for women.

Measurement of obesity and health[edit | edit source]

Waist to Hip Ratio(WHR) is used as a measurement of obesity, which in turn is a possible indicator of other more serious health conditions. The WHO states that abdominal obesity is defined as a waist-hip ratio above 0.90 for males and above 0.85 for females, or a body mass index (BMI) above 30.0.^[1] The National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) states that women with waist-hip ratios of more than 0.8, and men with more than 1.0, are at increased health risk because of their fat distribution.

	DGSP^[2]		WHO^[1]		NIDDK^[3]
	Women	Men	Women	Men	Women	Men
under-weight	??	??	??	??	??	??
normal weight	< 0.80	< 0.90	??	??	??	??
over-weight	0.80–0.84	0.90–0.99	??	??	??	??
obesity	> 0.85	> 1.00	> 0.85	> 0.90	> 0.80	> 1.00

Table adapted from Wikipedia.

Waist-to-hip ratio Resources
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