Obesity diagnosis should move beyond a uniform BMI-based definition, researchers say, after analysing health data from 844,108 adults across China, the UK, the United States and Spain.The findings, published in Nature on Wednesday, suggest that current methods of diagnosing obesity may fail to distinguish between people who are already experiencing health problems linked to excess body fat and those who face increased health risks but have no evidence of impaired organ function.“People with obesity, like everyone else, deserve care matched to their needs: no less, and no more,” Professor Francesco Rubino, senior author of the study and chair of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery at King's College London, said in a press release.Currently, obesity is generally classified using body mass index (BMI), a measure calculated from a person's weight and height. However, BMI does not account for how much body fat a person has, where it is distributed or whether it is affecting their health.In January 2025, a Commission published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology proposed a new framework for diagnosing obesity, moving beyond BMI alone. It recommended distinguishing between two categories: clinical obesity, where excess body fat impairs organ function or everyday activities, and preclinical obesity, where excess body fat increases health risks but normal bodily function is preserved.Researchers from King's College London and an international team of collaborators…
BMI alone misses obesity diagnoses, international study finds
A study of more than 844,000 people across four countries found that relying on body mass index (BMI) alone can both overestimate and underestimate obesity, potentially exposing patients to inappropriate treatment.
In brief
Obesity diagnosis should move beyond a uniform BMI-based definition, researchers say, after analysing health data from 844,108 adults across China, the UK, the United States and Spain.The findings, published in Nature on Wednesday, suggest that current methods of diagnosing obesity may fail to distinguish between people who are already experiencing health problems linked to excess body fat and those who face increased health risks but have no evidence of impaired organ function.“People with obesity, like everyone else, deserve care matched to their needs: no less, and no more,” Professor Francesco Rubino, senior author of the study and chair of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery at King's Co…
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