Evaluation of Alternative Anthropometric Indices for Support‎ing Body Mass Index in Obesity Screening.Among Predominantly Female Tertiary Students

  • Authors

    https://doi.org/10.14419/wnxmxc50

    Received date: November 23, 2025

    Accepted date: January 10, 2026

    Published date: January 16, 2026

  • Obesity; Metabolism; Diabetes; Anthropometric Indices; Lifestyle

  • Abstract

    Given the rising prevalence of obesity and its associated health complications, including metabolic and cardiovascular disorders, this study ‎addresses a critical research gap concerning the most reliable indices that support Body Mass Index (BMI) for early obesity screening ‎among young adults. The objectives examine students’ sociodemographic characteristics and anthropometric parameters, explore correlations among obesity indices, evaluate sensitivity and specificity in predicting obesity, and identify the most effective indicators by gender ‎and age group. A cross-sectional research design is adopted, involving a sample of 219 students selected through stratified random sampling. Data is collected using structured questionnaires and physical measurements, and analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis. The findings reveal that in terms of support for Body Mass Index (BMI) in ‎screening for obesity, the Body Adiposity Index (BAI) and Waist-to-Height Ratio (WaHtR) exhibit strong correlations and high diagnostic ‎accuracy, whereas the Waist-to-Hip Ratio (WaHpR). The study concludes that a combined use of BAI, WaHtR, BMI, and CI tailored to ‎gender differences offers a robust method for early obesity detection. It is recommended that universities institutionalize routine health ‎screenings utilizing these indices, enhance awareness of obesity-related risks, and promote healthy lifestyle behaviors among students to ‎curb the increasing burden of obesity‎.

  • References

    1. Ononamadu, C.J.; Ezekwesili, C.N.; Onyeukwu, O.F.; Umeoguaju, U.F.; Ezeigwe, O.C.; Ihegboro, G.O. Comparative analysis of anthropometric indices of obesity as correlates and potential predictors of risk for hypertension and prehypertension in a population in Nigeria. Cardiovasc. J. Afr. 2017, 28(2), 92–99. https://doi.org/10.5830/CVJA-2016-061.
    2. World Health Organization. Obesity and Overweight; World Health Organization: Geneva, Switzerland, 2019. Available online: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight.
    3. Lawal, Y.; Mshelia-Reng, R.; Omonua, S.O.; Odumodu, K.; Shuaibu, R.; Itanyi, U.D.; Abubakar, A.I.; Kolade-Yunusa, H.O.; Songden, Z.D.; Ehusani, C.O.; Adediran, O.; Anumah, F.E. Comparison of waist-height ratio and other obesity indices in the prediction of diabetic peripheral neu-ropathy. Front. Nutr. 2022, 9, 949315. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2022.949315.
    4. Okubadejo, N.U.; Adegoke, O.; Odeniyi, I.A.; Bello, B.T.; Akinkugbe, A.; Ojo, O.O.; Agabi, O.P. Prevalence of obesity and an interrogation of the correlation between anthropometric indices and blood pressures in urban Lagos, Nigeria. Sci. Rep. 2021, 11(1), 3522. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-83055-w.
    5. Sobal, J.; Hanson, K.L.; Frongillo, E.A. Marriage in men and women as a predictor of body weight, dietary intake, and health behaviors. Public Health Nutr. 2020, 23(6), 1033–1041.
    6. Zaragoza-García, O.; Gutiérrez-Pérez, I.A.; Delgado-Floody, P.; Parra-Rojas, I.; Jerez-Mayorga, D.; Campos-Jara, C.; Guzmán-Guzmán, I.P. Emer-gent anthropometric indices in differential prediction of prehypertension and hypertension in Mexican population: results according to age and sex. Int. J. Hypertens. 2022, 2022, 4522493. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/4522493.
    7. Casadei, K.; Kiel, J. Anthropometric Measurement. StatPearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing: Treasure Island, FL, USA, 2022. Available online: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK537315/.
    8. Ma, C.; Wang, R.; Liu, Y.; Lu, Q.; Lu, N.; Tian, Y.; Liu, X.; Yin, F. Performance of obesity indices for screening elevated blood pressure in pediat-ric population: systematic review and meta-analysis. Medicine (Baltimore) 2016, 95(39), e0000. https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000004811.
    9. Martins, C.A.; do Prado, C.B.; Ferreira, J.R.S.; Cattafesta, M.; dos Santos Neto, E.T.; Haraguchi, F.K.; Marques-Rocha, J.L.; Salaroli, L.B. Conici-ty index as an indicator of abdominal obesity in individuals with chronic kidney disease on hemodialysis. PLoS ONE 2023, 18(4), e0280000. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284059
    10. Chen, G.; Yan, H.; Hao, Y.; Shrestha, S.; Wang, J.; Li, Y.; Wei, Y.; Pan, J.; Zhang, Z. Comparison of various anthropometric indices in predicting abdominal obesity in Chinese children: a cross-sectional study. BMC Pediatr. 2019, 19(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-019-1501-z.
    11. Musaiger, A.O.; Al-Mannai, M.; Tayyem, R.; Al-Lalla, O.; Ali, E.Y.A.; Kalam, F.; Benhamed, M.M.; Saghir, S.A.M.; Halahleh, I.; Djoudi, Z.; Chi-rane, M. Prevalence of overweight and obesity among adolescents in seven Arab countries: a cross-cultural study. J. Obes. 2013, 2013, 981390. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/232164.
    12. Pescari, D.; Mihuta, M.S.; Bena, A.; Stoian, D. Comparative analysis of dietary habits and obesity prediction: body mass index versus body fat per-centage classification using bioelectrical impedance analysis. Nutrients 2024, 16(19), 0000. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16193291.
    13. Quetelet, A. A Treatise on Man and the Development of His Faculties; William and Robert Chambers: Edinburgh, UK, 1842.
    14. Ashwell, M.; Gibson, S. A simple cut-off for waist-to-height ratio can act as an indicator for cardiometabolic risk: Health Survey for England. Br. J. Nutr. 2020, 124(3), 392–403.
    15. Bergman, R.N.; Stefanovski, D.; Buchanan, T.A.; Sumner, A.E.; Reynolds, J.C.; Sebring, N.G.; O’Connor, S. A better index of body adiposity. Obesity 2011, 19(5), 1083–1089. https://doi.org/10.1038/oby.2011.38.
    16. Valdez, R. A simple model-based index of abdominal adiposity. J. Clin. Epidemiol. 1991, 44(9), 955–956. https://doi.org/10.1016/0895-4356(91)90059-I.
    17. Thomas, D.M.; Bredlau, C.; Bosy-Westphal, A.; Mueller, M.; Shen, W.; Gallagher, D.; Heymsfield, S.B. Relationships between body roundness with body fat and visceral adipose tissue emerging from a new geometrical model. Obesity 2013, 21(11), 2264–2271. https://doi.org/10.1002/oby.20408.
    18. Woolcott, O.O.; Bergman, R.N. Relative fat mass (RFM) as a new estimator of whole-body fat percentage. A cross-sectional study in American adult individuals. Sci. Rep. 2018, 8(1), 10980. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-29362-1.
    19. Chowdhury, M.A.B.; Adnan, M.M.; Hassan, M.Z.; Sultana, S.; Haque, M.A.; Rahman, M.M.; Haque, A.; Islam, S.M.S. Prevalence and risk factors of hypertension among young adults in Bangladesh: evidence from a national survey. PLoS ONE 2021, 16(3), e0247958. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259507.
    20. Popkin, B.M.; Corvalan, C.; Grummer-Strawn, L.M. Dynamics of the double burden of malnutrition and the changing nutrition reality. Lancet 2020, 395(10217), 65–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(19)32497-3.
    21. World Health Organization. Obesity and Overweight: Key Facts; World Health Organization: Geneva, Switzerland, 2021. Available online: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight.
    22. Yeboah, F.A.; Owiredu, W.K.B.A.; Abedini, A.; Yirenkyi, C.; Osei-Yeboah, J. Anthropometric indices and metabolic syndrome risk among Gha-naian adults: evidence from a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health 2022, 22(1), 1458.
    23. Mensah, S.A.; Appiah, P.K.; Agyemang-Duah, W.; Owiredu, E.W.; Ephraim, R.K.D. Comparative evaluation of anthropometric indices as predic-tors of cardiometabolic risk among adults in a Ghanaian population. Heliyon 2022, 8(9), e10574.
    24. Owusu-Antwi, A.; Amoako, E.A.; Yeboah, F.A.; Boadu, I.; Kusi-Mensah, E. Relationship between body mass index and hypertension among adults in Ghana: a population-based cross-sectional study. Int. J. Hypertens. 2021, 2021, 8837563.
    25. Jolliffe, I.T.; Cadima, J. Principal component analysis: a review and recent developments. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. A 2016, 374(2065), 20150202. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2015.0202.
    26. Zweig, M.H.; Campbell, G. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) plots: a fundamental evaluation tool in clinical medicine. Clin. Chem. 1993, 39(4), 561–577. https://doi.org/10.1093/clinchem/39.4.561.
    27. Hanley, J.A.; McNeil, B.J. The meaning and use of the area under a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Radiology 1982, 143(1), 29–36. https://doi.org/10.1148/radiology.143.1.7063747.
    28. Keykhaei, M.; Farrokhpour, H.; Rashedi, S.; Ayati, A.; Anvari, A.; Zokaei, S.; Rabizadeh, S.; Nakhjavani, M. The use of anthropometric indices as indicators of hypertension in patients with diabetes type 2: a large-scale cross-sectional study. Circulation 2023, 148(Suppl_1), A14027. https://doi.org/10.1161/circ.148.suppl_1.14027.
    29. Liu, W.; Song, S.; Zhang, H.; An, C. A comparative analysis of anthropometric indices for diagnosing obstructive sleep apnea among American adults. Sci. Rep. 2024, 14(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-81191-7.
    30. World Health Organization. Waist Circumference and Waist–Hip Ratio: Report of a WHO Expert Consultation, Geneva, 8–11 December 2008; World Health Organization: Geneva, Switzerland, 2008. Available online: https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/44583.
    31. Ezzati, M.; Riboli, E. Abdominal and gluteo-femoral markers of adiposity and risk of vascular‐metabolic mortality in a prospective study of 150,000 Mexican adults. Eur. J. Prev. Cardiol. 2013, 29(5), 730–744. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurjpc/zwab038.
    32. Kim, K.J.; Son, S.; Kim, K.J.; Kim, S.G.; Kim, N.H. Weight-adjusted waist as an integrated index for fat, muscle and bone health in adults. J. Ca-chexia Sarcopenia Muscle 2023, 14(5), 2196–2203. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcsm.13302.
    33. Kaiser, H.F. An index of factorial simplicity. Psychometrika 1974, 39(1), 31–36. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02291575.

  • Downloads

  • How to Cite

    Nkrumah, R. ., Maalug, Y., Quartey, D. N. K. ., Nkrumah, A., Yeboah, A. M., & Ayembilla , J. A. . (2026). Evaluation of Alternative Anthropometric Indices for Support‎ing Body Mass Index in Obesity Screening.Among Predominantly Female Tertiary Students. International Journal of Medicine, 14(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.14419/wnxmxc50