Criteria For Indicating Obesity

Criteria For Indicating Obesity Suwanna Tawonrungrojn PhD Cardio-thoracic Technology Program, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Naresuan University Obesity is one important cause of cardiovascular diseases and has become a major public health problem. Health care providers frequently use body mass index or waist circumference for screening obesity. However, there are many other criteria which have been used for screening or diagnosis of obesity such as waist-to-hip ratio, waist-to-height ratio, or body fat percentage. This article collected data including obesity criteria or indicators reported in Thai and English literature. The indicators including cut-off values for a diagnosis of obesity from each study were compared. Keywords: obesity, body mass index, waist, waist-to-hip ratio, waist-to-height ratio, body fat Vajira Med J 2010 ; 54 : 387 - 394