Belly size check for spinal injury patients
Waist circumference cutoff identifying risks of obesity, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular disease in men with spinal cord injury
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Standard waist cutoff misses 93.7% of true obesity cases in SCI patients
A cutoff designed for the general population had near-zero sensitivity (6.3%) for detecting obesity in spinal injury patients, meaning it failed almost completely for this group
Practical Takeaways
Men with spinal cord injuries should ask their doctor to use an 86.5 cm waist cutoff for obesity and metabolic syndrome screening
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Standard waist cutoff misses 93.7% of true obesity cases in SCI patients
A cutoff designed for the general population had near-zero sensitivity (6.3%) for detecting obesity in spinal injury patients, meaning it failed almost completely for this group
Practical Takeaways
Men with spinal cord injuries should ask their doctor to use an 86.5 cm waist cutoff for obesity and metabolic syndrome screening
Publication
Journal
PLoS ONE
Year
2020
Authors
Satinder Gill, Ryan M. Sumrell, A. Sima, D. Cifu, A. Gorgey
Related Content
Claims (9)
Increased waist circumference is associated with a higher risk of metabolic disease and mortality, independent of total body weight.
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.
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%).
Using a waist size of 86.5 cm instead of standard cutoffs makes different doctors agree much more on who has metabolic syndrome in men with spinal cord injuries (Kappa 0.95 vs 0.47).