When monitoring public health and assessing individual risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD), clinical practitioners measure both Body Mass Index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio. Why is the waist-to-hip ratio generally considered a more reliable predictor of CVD risk and mortality than BMI?
The waist-to-hip ratio indicates abdominal (visceral) fat distribution, which is metabolically active and directly linked to CVD risk, whereas BMI cannot distinguish between fat distribution and muscle mass.
BMI only measures subcutaneous fat deposits, whereas the waist-to-hip ratio provides a direct percentage measurement of total essential body fat.
Waist-to-hip ratio is a direct biomarker for inherited hypercholesterolaemia, whereas BMI is purely an indicator of daily caloric surplus.
BMI is highly unreliable because body weight fluctuates significantly due to daily changes in bone density, whereas waist-to-hip ratio is unaffected by changes in body composition.
97 exam-style questions on OCR GCSE Biology 6.3 Monitoring and maintaining health, covering 6.3.1 Health and disease, 6.3.2 Interactions between diseases, 6.3.3 Spread of communicable diseases, 6.3.4 Common infections and diseases, 6.3.5 Physical plant defence responses, 6.3.6 Chemical plant defence responses, 6.3.7 Detecting and identifying plant diseases, 6.3.8 White blood cells and platelets, 6.3.9 Non-specific defence systems, 6.3.10 The immune system, 6.3.11 Monoclonal antibodies, 6.3.12 Vaccines and medicines, 6.3.13 Aseptic techniques, 6.3.14 Discovery and development of new medicines, 6.3.15 Causes of non-communicable diseases, 6.3.16 Treatments for cardiovascular disease, 6.3.17 Lifestyle factors and non-communicable diseases, 6.3.18 Cancer, 6.3.19 Stem cells in medicine, 6.3.20 Gene technology in medicine, and 6.3.21 The human genome and medicine. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.