LONDON — Millions of people would have their obesity diagnoses flipped — from having obesity to not, and vice versa — if an alternate way of defining the disease supplanted the standard body mass index measure, according to a new study that argues such an approach could lead to better care for patients.
The study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, is the latest volley in a debate about the limitations of the body mass index, and what could possibly replace it. BMI is deeply entrenched as a metric, dictating everything from regulatory decisions to insurance coverage to who is eligible for certain medical treatments. But it is a blunt measure that fails to take into account other health issues and differences in body composition, such as where fat is stored.
The new research stems from an effort to come up with a different diagnostic framework. Last year, a Lancet commission proposed a pathway that aimed to identify people whose health is currently being hurt by their weight and who are more likely to have dire outcomes going forward.
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