When they calculated the waist-to-hip ratio by dividing a person's waist size, measured at the navel, by the biggest part of their hips, the team led by Dr. Tobias Pischon of the German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke found that the risk of death increased by 34 percent for men and 24 percent for women every time that ratio increased by 0.1.
New research in the New England Journal of Medicine claims waist-to-hip ratio is better at predicting obesity-related death than body mass index (BMI). Reuters explains:
This backs up previous reports highlighting BMI’s inaccuracy in evaluating obesity in older folks and people with a lot of muscle, like me! My BMI says I’m a dead man.