Research
Energy balance
Waist circumference (WC) is a critical, 'vital' parameter for assessing cardiovascular risk in obesity, providing prognostic information that BMI alone fails to capture, particularly regarding visceral adipose tissue (VAT).
Ask your doctor to measure your waist circumference at every visit. It is a key indicator of heart disease risk that weight alone cannot show, especially if you have a 'normal' weight but carry fat around your midsection.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Waist circumference value is so important that it is considered a ‘vital’ parameter, which must be measured and recorded in each clinical examination, like heart rate and blood pressure.
Why this rating
Based on consensus guidelines (WHO, IDF) cited in the paper.
Source
Italian Association of Hospital Cardiologists position paper—obesity in adults: a clinical primer
Stefania Angela Di Fusco et al. · European Heart Journal Supplements · 2024
DOI 10.1093/eurheartjsupp/suae031
clinical_guidelineCited 3×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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