A review of body mass index and waist circumference as markers of obesity and coronary heart disease risk in persons with chronic spinal cord injury

Study design:Literature review.Background:Increased fat mass and coronary heart disease (CHD) are secondary complications of chronic spinal cord injury (SCI). In able-bodied populations, body mass index (BMI, body weight (kg)/height (m2)) is a widely used surrogate marker of obesity and predictor of CHD risk. Waist circumference, an accurate and reproducible surrogate measure of abdominal visceral adipose tissue, is also associated with CHD risk (more so than BMI) in able-bodied populations.Objective:To review the literature on the accuracy of BMI and waist circumference as surrogate measures of obesity and CHD risk in persons with chronic SCI.Setting:Ontario, Canada.Methods:Literature review.Results:In the SCI population, BMI is an insensitive marker of obesity, explains less of the variance in measured percent fat mass than in the able-bodied, and is inconsistently related to CHD risk factors. This may be due to potential measurement error, and to the inability of BMI to distinguish between fat and fat-free mass and to measure body fat distribution. Waist circumference has not been validated as a surrogate measure of visceral adipose tissue, however preliminary evidence supports a relationship between waist circumference and CHD risk in the SCI population.Conclusions:We recommend that SCI-specific BMI classifications be determined. We also recommend that accuracy and reliability of waist circumference as a surrogate measure of visceral adipose tissue and CHD risk be determined in men and women with long-standing paraplegia and tetraplegia.