WEIGHT-HEIGHT RELATIONSHIPS AMONG 8 POPULATIONS OF WEST-AFRICAN ORIGIN - THE CASE AGAINST CONSTANT BMI STANDARDS

OBJECTIVE: To ascertain whether constant body mass index (BMI) standar ds are appropriate in genetically similar populations. DESIGN: Data ar e taken from the International Collaborative Study of Hypertension in Blacks (ICSHIB), an observational study. SUBJECTS: Individuals of Afri can descent who were included in ICSHIB. Subjects lived in eight diffe rent sites: Barbados; Cameroon (urban and rural); Jamaica; Manchester, UK; Maywood, IL; urban Nigeria; and St Lucia. MEASUREMENTS: Weight an d height. RESULTS: Constant BMI standards effectively argue for the co nstancy of slope of the linear regression equations of In(weight) on I n(height) across populations. Linear regression results indicate that the height/weight relationship implied by the use of constant BMI stan dards, is not found in these populations and that there is much variat ion across groups. CONCLUSION: The use of constant BMI standards in cl assifying individuals prognostically may be unwise, even in geneticall y similar populations.