Classical and Newly Designed Anthropometric Parameters in Assessment of Obesity: A comparative review

Abstract

Background: The lethal nature of obesity is the leading cause of cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia. Since 17th-century anthropometric parameters are known as a quantitative measure of obesity, how it detects changes in the body and its effects on health. In the beginning, the classical parameters were used i.e., BMI, waist to hip ratio, waist circumference, and waist to height ratio to determine obesity but due to different ethnic backgrounds and cut-off points, they lost their reliability. To overcome their limitations new parameters were introduced which were found to be better and independent of these factors.
 Methods: From different databases, a total of 450 papers were reviewed and at the end 101 were finalized for this study.
 Results: This study found that classical parameters can be used as a basic screening tool to differentiate from the standard. Yet their effectiveness is low since ethnic backgrounds, genders, ages, and populations influence them. Newly introduced parameters i.e., BRI, ABSI, and Log of Z-Score were found to be independent of age, gender, and ethnic backgrounds also they correspond positively with classical parameters. Various studies have supported their superiority over the classical ones, but some studies showed the result of newly introduced parameters is no better than the classical ones. But even keeping that in view it is more likely that the result given by newly introduced parameters is more authentic.
 Conclusion: Finally, it can be concluded that every parameter has some limitations but the factors which affect the efficiency of the results must not be overlooked.