Waist and hip circumferences in different populations
A Molarius et al
(77% in men, 75% in women), but only moderate for
the WHR (31% in men, 18% in women). The latter is
natural because if two measures, which are both
predominantly explained by the BMI, are combined
as a ratio, the proportion explained by the BMI is far
less for the ratio than for the individual variables.
Although waist circumference and WHR are both
used as indicators of abdominal obesity, they seem
to measure different aspects of the human body: waist
circumference mainly re¯ects the degree of over-
weight, whereas the WHR does not.
Even though the results of hip circumference were
fairly similar to those for waist circumference, hip cir-
cumference seems to measure slightly different things in
men and women. While in women it re¯ects mainly body
fat (81% explained by the BMI), in men it also seems to
re¯ect body structure (6% explained by height).
Some investigators have argued that waist-height
ratio (WHTR) shows stronger associations with intra-
abdominal fat32 and cardiovascular risk factors,33 than
waist circumference. In the present study, as well as in
others,34 there was almost no association between
waist circumference and height. The interpretation
of the WHTR is complex because it may re¯ect
variation in waist and in stature. For these reasons
we did not calculate WHTRs in this study.
Conclusion
In summary, we found considerable variation in waist
and hip circumferences and the WHR, among the 19
MONICA populations. The predominant determinant
of waist circumference, was degree of overweight,
while most of the variation in WHR remained unex-
plained by demographic and anthropometric variables.
Acknowledgements
MONICA Centres are funded predominantly by regio-
nal and national governments, research councils, and
research charities. Coordination is the responsibility
of the World Health Organization (WHO), assisted by
local fund raising for congresses and workshops. The
WHO also supports the MONICA Data Centre (MDC)
in Helsinki. Not covered by this general description, is
the ongoing generous support of the MDC by the
National Public Health Institute of Finland, and a
contribution to the WHO from the National Heart,
Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of
Health, Bethesda, Maryland USA for support of the
MDC. Financial support from research funds of the
National Public Health Institute of Finland to Ms A.
Molarius, is gratefully acknowledged.
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