79, whose health was tracked from 1993 to 2017 as part of a large national study.
Women who were considered to have normal BMI but had a large waist size had a 31% higher risk of dying during the study period, compared to those with a normal BMI but a smaller waist.
That hike in risk is comparable to the 30% increased odds for death observed among obese people with central obesity, who were in the highest risk group, the researchers said.
The two main causes of death in people with normal BMI but large waist size were heart disease and obesity-related cancers, according to the report published online July 24 in JAMA Network Open.
Right now, clinical guidelines say doctors need rely only on a person’s BMI to determine their obesity-related health risk, Bao noted. So people who are in
