Objective

to identify cut-off points for waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) with better sensitivity, specificity and accuracy to distinguish overweight elderly people by sex, using three body mass index criteria as anthropometric references.

Methods

this was a cross-sectional study that analyzed weight, height and WC measurements of 3,477 elderly people (2008-2009); receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to define the cut-off points.

Results

WC cut-off points were 86.5cm, 88.7cm and 91.5cm in women, and 93.0cm, 96.0cm and 97.5cm in men, according to World Health Organization/WHO, Nutrition Screening Initiative/NSI and Pan American Health Organization/PAHO criteria, respectively; WHtR cut-off points corresponded to 0.57, 0.58, 0.59 in the female sex, and 0.56, 0.58 and 0.59 in the male sex; highest absolute overall accuracy values: PAHO (men) and WHO (women).

Conclusion

WC and WHtR cut-off points were similar, regardless of the BMI criterion adopted.

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