Comparison of different anthropometric measures in the adult population in Serbia as indicators of obesity: data from the National Health Survey 2013

Objective: The present study aimed to compare different indicators of obesity in the Serbian adult population. Design: Cross-sectional study. A stratified, two-stage, national-representative random sampling approach was used for the selection of the survey sample. Data sources were questionnaires created according to the European Health Interview Survey questionnaire. Measurements of weight, height and waist circumference (WC) were performed using standard procedures. Anthropometric measures included BMI, WC and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR). Setting: Data for the study were obtained from the 2013 National Health Survey, performed in line with the EUROSTAT recommendations for performance of the European Health Interview Survey. Subjects: Adults aged = 20 years. Results: According to BMI, out of the whole studied population (12 460 adults of both sexes) 2.4% were underweight, 36.4% overweight and 22.4% obese. Using WC and WHtR as measures of adiposity showed that 22.5% and 42.8% of participants were overweight and 39.8% and 25.3% were obese, respectively. Men and women differed significantly in all variables observed. Overweight was more frequent in men and obesity in women regardless of adiposity measure used. Conclusions: In spite of strong correlations between BMI, WC and WHtR, substantial discrepancies between these three measures in the assessment of overweight and obesity were found, especially in some age groups. Which of these anthropometric measures should be used, or whether two or all three of them should be applied, depends on their associations with cardiovascular or some other disease of interest.