A person’s waist-to-height ratio can be a more accurate way to predict the risk of development of heart failure than body mass index (BMI), which is in accordance with the new research presented at the 2025 Congress of the European Society of Cardiology.

The study conducted by researchers at Lund University and Malmo University Hospital in Sweden performed 1,792 people over an average period of 12.6 years.

It was found that people with high waist-to-height ratio were more likely to develop heart failure than people with a low ratio.

Why does the waist-to-high ratio matter

While BMI is commonly used to measure obesity, it does not consider how the body fat is distributed.

“BMI can be affected by factors such as sex and ethnicity and does not show where the fat is located. The ratio of the waist-to-the-side, on the other hand, focuses on the central fat-which is more harmful, which is more harmful, which is more harmful,” the author of the study “Dr. Amra Jujik said.

At the beginning of the study, participants in the age group between 45 and 73 were divided into groups based on their blood sugar levels: normal, impaired fasting glucose and diabetes.

About 29% of the group were women, and the average age was 67.

Major conclusions of studies

Researchers visited 132 cases of heart failure during the follow -up period.

They found that for an increase in each standard deviation in the ratio of the waist-to-cool, the risk of heart failure increased by 34%even after accounting for other health factors.

People with the highest waist-to-hip ratio (an average of 0.65) were about three times more likely to develop heart failure than others.

“It is a strong sign that the waist-to-cool ratio is a reliable measure,” co-writer Dr. John Molvin said. “Ideally, your waist should be less than half of your height. For example, if you are 170 cm long, your waist should be less than 85 cm.”

Moving beyond BMI

Dr. Molvin said that the waist-to-hip ratio may be more useful than BMI when patients benefiting from the treatment of obesity may be identified.

“Our next step is to see if the waist-to-high ratio also predicts other health problems like diabetes or high blood pressure in a large population,” he said.

Conclusions can help doctors to identify and manage people at risk of heart failure.