SynthesisScientific reports2020
The performance of anthropometric tools to determine obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Scientific reports, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 91 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
91 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 171 citations in OpenAlex.
- Validity of non-traditional measures of obesity compared to total body fat across the life course: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of canola oil on body weight and composition in adults: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis of 32 randomized controlled trials.Nutrition journal · 2025Pooled it
- Essential dataset features in a successful obesity registry: a systematic review.International health · 2025Pooled it
- Developing an HIV-specific falls risk prediction model with a novel clinical index: a systematic review and meta-analysis method.BMC infectious diseases · 2024Pooled it
- Adults with excess weight or obesity, but not with overweight, report greater pain intensities than individuals with normal weight: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2024Pooled it
- Association of epicardial adipose tissue with the severity and adverse clinical outcomes of COVID-19: A meta-analysis.International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases · 2022Pooled it
- Can biomarkers be used to improve diagnosis and prediction of metabolic syndrome in childhood cancer survivors? A systematic review.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2021Pooled it
- Effect of Tai Chi on Quality of Life, Body Mass Index, and Waist-Hip Ratio in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2020Pooled it
- Diagnosis, staging and management of obesity: a synthesis of contemporary guidelines.Nature reviews. Endocrinology · 2026Review
- Screening, Diagnosis, Evaluation, and Staging of Obesity in Adults: Standards of Care in Overweight and Obesity-2026.BMJ open diabetes research & care · 2026Review
- Effects of probiotics and synbiotics on body weight management in individuals with overweight or obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Physical activity and nutrition · 2026Article
- Healthcare Provider Awareness and Perspectives on Obesity: A Survey Across Medical Specialties.Obesity science & practice · 2026Article
- Racial and Ethnic Differences Between Waist Circumference and BMI in Identifying Obesity.Diabetes care · 2026Article
- Rethinking Maternal Obesity Research in a Changing Clinical Landscape.Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology · 2026Article
- Anthropometric Indicators and Immune Fitness: An Exploratory Online Survey Among Adults from Saudi Arabia.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Overall and central adiposity and risk of contralateral breast cancer: The California Breast Cancer Survivorship Consortium.International journal of cancer · 2026Article
- WHtR-BFP dual-dimensional synergy: innovative construction of a nine-grid model for precision obesity management.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- From population science to the clinic? Limits of epigenetic clocks as personal biomarkers.Epigenomics · 2025Article
- Epidemiological associations between obesity, metabolism and disease risk: are body mass index and waist-hip ratio all you need?International journal of obesity (2005) · 2025Article
- Fat-brain axis indicated by mutual impacts between body fat and brain phenotypes.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Article
31 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The aim of this systematic review was to assess the performance of anthropometric tools to determine obesity in the general population (CRD42018086888). Our review included 32 studies. To detect obesity with body mass index (BMI), the meta-analyses rendered a sensitivity of 51.4% (95% CI 38.5-64.2%) and a specificity of 95.4% (95% CI 90.7-97.8%) in women, and 49.6% (95% CI 34.8-64.5%) and 97.3% (95% CI 92.1-99.1%), respectively, in men. For waist circumference (WC), the summary estimates for the sensitivity were 62.4% (95% CI 49.2-73.9%) and 88.1% for the specificity (95% CI 77.0-94.2%) in men, and 57.0% (95% CI 32.2-79.0%) and 94.8% (95% CI 85.8-98.2%), respectively, in women. The data were insufficient to pool the results for waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) but were similar to BMI and WC. In conclusion, BMI and WC have serious limitations for use as obesity screening tools in clinical practice despite their widespread use. No evidence supports that WHR and WHtR are more suitable than BMI or WC to assess body fat. However, due to the lack of more accurate and feasible alternatives, BMI and WC might still have a role as initial tools for assessing individuals for excess adiposity until new evidence emerges.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.