Table 4.
Sex- and race-specific clinical guidelines for the use of waist circumference within BMI categories to assess health risk based on analyses of the Pennington Center Longitudinal Study*
| Waist circumference threshold within BMI category, cm
†
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| normal weight (18.5–24.9 kg/m2) | overweight (25–29.9 kg/m2) | obese I (30–34.9 kg/m2) | obese II+ (≥35 kg/m2) | |
| White women | ≥72 | ≥87 | ≥97 | ≥111 |
| African American women | ≥76 | ≥85 | ≥97 | ≥110 |
| White men | ≥82 | ≥95 | ≥107 | ≥120 |
| African American men | ≥78 | ≥92 | ≥104 | ≥119 |
*
Health risk defined as ≥2 cardiometabolic risk factors of the following: blood pressure ≥ 130/85 mm Hg (or reported treated hypertension); glucose ≥ 100 mg/dl (or diagnosed with diabetes); triglycerides ≥ 150 mg/dl; or HDL cholesterol < 40 mg/dl for men or < 50 mg/dl for women.
†
Waist circumference threshold indicates increased health risk within each BMI category and sex-by-race group.