Presenter: Austin Wong
Mentors: Josh Snodgrass and Melissa Liebert, Anthropology
Poster: 65
Major: Biology
Frequently used as a predictor of obesity-related health risks, body mass index (BMI) estimates general adiposity instead of abdominal obesity, and does not distinguish between fat and lean mass. Further, previous research has found it is possible for adults to maintain a normal BMI, yet increase their waist circumference (WC) over time.
This makes BMI a less accurate predictor of cardiometabolic risk in older adults (/50 years old). While measures of central obesity have been found to be better indicators of cardiovascular disease than BMI, debate continues over the optimal measure of central adiposity. The current study uses data from the World Health Organization Study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE), a longitudinal study of nationally representative samples from older adults
in six middle income countries (China, Ghana, Mexico, India, Russian Federation, and South Africa). We examine associations among body composition measures (BMI, WC, waist-to-stature ratio, and body adiposity index) across age groups, sex, and country. Furthermore, this study investigates associations between body composition measures and hypertension. We hypothesize that: 1)abdominal obesity measures will increase with age groups but decrease in those over 80 years old, 2) stronger associations will be found between abdominal adiposity measurements and blood pressure, and 3) diverse associations will be found in the populations examined due to a variety of factors including diet, urbanization, and health care access.