Research
Energy balance
High waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) is a significant predictor of all-cause mortality, whereas BMI is not, and psychological stress does not directly predict all-cause mortality when WHR is considered.
Do not rely on BMI to assess your long-term health risk. Instead, measure your waist and hip circumferences. A high waist-to-hip ratio is a much stronger predictor of early death than BMI. Focus on reducing abdominal fat through lifestyle changes, as this specific body shape is linked to higher mortality.
GoodRefutesHIGH confidence
We found that only age and waist-to-hip ratio contributed to all-cause mortality, but not stress or BMI... waist-to-hip ratio contributed to the risk of all-cause mortality in both genders (Exp (B) = 34.66 (6.43–186.92); P < 0.001 for men; Exp (B) = 60.65 (9.33–394.22); P < 0.001 for women).
Why this rating
Large cohort study with long follow-up and robust statistical adjustment.
Source
Psychological stress, body shape and cardiovascular events: Results from the Whitehall II study
Britta Kubera et al. · Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2021
DOI 10.1016/j.cpnec.2021.100104
cohort · n=7107Cited 9×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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