Comparing Measures of Obesity in Relation to Health Care Use in Adults from the CLSA
Channel: Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA/ÉLCV)
Date: 02/11/2020

Obesity is a disease that has been associated with increased health care use, although it is unclear whether this is consistent across all measures of obesity. Body mass index is most commonly used to classify obesity, although additional anthropometric measures exist including measures of abdominal obesity such as waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio, and direct measures of adiposity such as percent body fat using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. This presentation will explore the relationships between four anthropometric measures, comparing body mass index, waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio to the reference standard, percent body fat using data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA). This presentation will also estimate the associations of each anthropometric measure with self-reported outpatient and inpatient indicators of health care use. The implications of these findings will be discussed.

Alessandra Andreacchi is a recent Master of Public Health graduate from McMaster University. She completed her master’s thesis working with the CLSA on this project under the supervision of Dr. Laura Anderson. Her research interests include aging, obesity and body measurement, and chronic disease prevention.

Stay connected with the CLSA:

Web: http://clsa-elcv.ca 
Facebook EN: https://www.facebook.com/CanadianLongitudinalStudyonAging
Facebook FR: https://www.facebook.com/EtudeLongitudinaleCanadienneSurLeVieillissement
Twitter: http://twitter.com/clsa_elcv
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/clsa_elcv