Research
Hormonal
Abdominal or upper-body obesity is independently associated with a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease compared to lower-body fat distribution.
If you are overweight, where you carry the weight matters for your health risks. Abdominal or upper-body fat is more strongly linked to diabetes and heart disease than lower-body fat. Monitoring waist circumference may provide better insight into your metabolic risk than BMI alone.
StrongSupportsVERY_HIGH confidence
There are now numerous prospective longitudinal studies showing that a pattern of upper-body fat distribution is independently associated with higher risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Why this rating
Supported by multiple prospective longitudinal studies and large cohort data (NHANES, Nurses' Health Study).
Source
The Obesity Epidemic: Pathophysiology and Consequences of Obesity
F. Xavier Pi‐Sunyer · Obesity Research · 2002
DOI 10.1038/oby.2002.202
narrative_reviewCited 860×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Obesity, particularly abdominal obesity, increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, with risk rising steeply as BMI increases.Strong
- Obesity is associated with an increased risk of hypertension, with risk increasing as BMI and abdominal obesity increase.Strong
- Obesity is associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality, with risk increasing as BMI and waist-to-hip ratio increase.Strong
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