Introduction. Significant correlations between BMI and some body circumferences have been previously reported. In this study we investigated if the average of the sum of eight body circumferences can be a substitute for BMI. Patients and Methods. BMI and eight body circumferences (neck, waist, hip, arm, forearm, wrist, thigh, and ankle) were measured in 193 apparently healthy women aged 20–83, and within a wide range of BMI. Women with BMI ≤ 24.9 were designated as normal, with BMI 25–29.9 as overweight and with BMI ≥ 30 as obese. The relationship of the average body circumference (ABC) of the sum of the eight circumferences, and of each individual circumference with BMI, was evaluated. Results. ABC had the strongest correlation with BMI (, ) among all the circumferences tested. Hip circumference had the strongest correlation with BMI (, ) among the circumferences of individual body sites. Receiver-Operator Characteristic analysis showed that women with ABC > 44.0？cm could be recognized as having BMI ≥ 25 with sensitivity 90.2% and specificity 88.5%, while women with ABC > 47.1？cm could be diagnosed as having BMI ≥ 30 with sensitivity 92.2% and specificity 91.5%. Conclusion. An average body circumference strongly correlated with BMI in women and can serve as a surrogate of BMI. 1. Introduction Body mass index (BMI) has been used extensively as a convenient and inexpensive measure of obesity in epidemiological studies since its introduction in 1972 [1]. In a considerable number of studies, high BMI has been associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, resistance to insulin, and diabetes mellitus [2]. However, while BMI is appropriate for population studies, it should not be used as an index of obesity in individual patients [1], but this is a standard practice by many clinicians and is recommended by health authorities as a screening test for obesity [3–5]. A major shortcoming of BMI is that it does not give any estimation of the distribution of fat in the human body. Moreover, for the estimation of BMI, special equipment for the measurement of body weight and height is needed. Ben-Noun et al. [6] found a significant correlation between neck circumference and BMI and proposed that neck circumference could be used to identify BMI-defined overweight or obese patients. In the present work, we investigated the relationship between BMI and several body circumferences in women and we found that the best predictor of BMI among various body circumferences is the average of the sum of eight individual body circumferences (ABC). 2.
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