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  • Response to Letter to the Editor
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Response to Cameron et al.

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 68, page 141 (2014)Cite this article

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We welcome Cameron et al.’s letter highlighting the interesting findings of their recent review.1 We agree that ratio measures of anthropometry such as the waist to hip ratio (WHR) may be less predictive for mortality than their underlying pair of parameters, that is, waist (WC) and hip circumference (HC), although neither our nor their review was designed to specifically address this comparison. As indicated by Cameron et al. HC was associated with mortality in some studies.1, 2 However, it is important to note that the significance of this association heavily depends on the degree of adjustment for other anthropometric variables. In contrast to WC, HC was not significantly associated with mortality in a multivariable adjusted model that also included body mass index (BMI) in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) and other cohort studies.3, 4 It was the rationale of our review to analyse and compare cohort studies investigating BMI and at least one abdominal obesity measure, such as WC, WHR or WHtR.5 We feel that our findings provide further evidence that mortality prediction may be improved by combining BMI and an abdominal obesity measure such as WHR or WC.

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References

  1. Cameron AJ, Magliano DJ, Söderberg S . A systematic review of the impact of including both waist and hip circumference in risk models for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and mortality. Obes Rev 2013; 12: 86–94.

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  5. Carmienke S, Freitag MH, Pischon T, Schlattmann P, Fankhaenel T, Goebel H et al. General and abdominal obesity parameters and their combination in relation to mortality: a systematic review and meta-regression analysis. Eur J Clin Nutr 2013; 67: 573–585.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of General Practice and Family Medicine, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany

    S Carmienke, M H Freitag & J Gensichen

  2. Molecular Epidemiology Group, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Berlin-Buch, Germany

    T Pischon

Authors
  1. S Carmienke
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  2. M H Freitag
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  3. T Pischon
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  4. J Gensichen
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Correspondence to M H Freitag.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Carmienke, S., Freitag, M., Pischon, T. et al. Response to Cameron et al.. Eur J Clin Nutr 68, 141 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2013.188

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