A waist size of 94 cm or more is a reliable indicator of high heart disease risk in people with spinal cord injuries, correctly identifying all cases but sometimes flagging healthy individuals.

For men with spinal cord injuries, a waist size of 86.5 cm corresponds to a lower heart disease risk threshold (6 instead of 10), identifying more people at risk.

Using a waist size of 86.5 cm instead of 102 cm in men with spinal cord injuries better identifies who has obesity based on body fat percentage, catching more true cases (68.8% vs 6.3%) while still correctly identifying most non-obese people (90% vs 100%).

For men with spinal cord injuries, a waist size of 86.5 cm better detects belly fat (visceral adipose tissue) than the standard cutoff, identifying more true cases (84.6% vs 7.7%) while still correctly identifying most people without excess belly fat (91.3% vs 100%).

For men with spinal cord injuries, using a waist size of 86.5 cm instead of 102 cm identifies more people as obese (36% vs 3%), which is a big difference.

Waist size and waist-to-height ratio are linked to five key heart disease risk factors and overall heart disease risk in people with spinal cord injuries.