Searchable abstracts of presentations at key conferences in endocrinology
Endocrine Abstracts (2014) 35 S5.2 | DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.35.S5.2

ECE2014 Symposia Obesity Beyond BMI (3 abstracts)

Relevance of body composition analysis

Javier Gómez-Ambrosi 1,


1Metabolic Research Laboratory, Clínica Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain; 2CIBERobn, ISCIII, Madrid, Spain.


Obesity is defined as an excess of adipose tissue of sufficient magnitude to produce adverse health consequences, and is associated with increased morbi–mortality. BMI is the most frequently used diagnostic tool in the current classification system of obesity. It has the advantage that a subject’s height and weight are easy and inexpensive to measure. Overweight is defined as a BMI between 25.0 and 29.9 kg/m2 and obesity as a BMI ≥30.0 kg/m2. BMI is very useful in epidemiological studies but is only a surrogate measure of body fatness and does not provide an accurate measure of body composition. In this sense, our group has shown, in a cross-sectional analysis of more than 6000 Caucasian subjects, that 29% of the lean and 80% of overweight-classified individuals according to the BMI criteria were actually obese considering their body fat. Moreover, we found a similarly altered cardiometabolic profile in non-obese individuals according to BMI but obese based on body fat, than in those individuals obese by both BMI and body fat. Furthermore, we have shown that body fat may be more determinant than BMI and even than waist circumference in diabetes development in lean subjects classified by BMI and in males in particular. Since not in all cases physicians have access to body composition analysis we have developed a predictive equation (CUN-BAE) which correlates better than BMI with several markers of insulin resistance and inflammation, suggesting that it may be helpful in clinical practice. Finally, we provide evidence suggesting that body composition should be considered in the eligibility criteria for bariatric surgery, which are currently based on BMI and the presence of major comorbidities. In summary, the inclusion of body composition measurements is very useful and desirable for both the diagnosis and follow up of the treatment of obesity.

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