Waist to Hip Ratio
The waist-to-hip ratio, a comparison of waist and hip circumferences, provides important information not only about the amount of fat a person carries but the proportion of abdominal fat and, by extension, relative risk of cardiovascular complications. People with a higher ratio are at increased risk of developing diseases associated with overweight. This measurement is informative because it provides a somewhat more refined measure of overall fat distribution. In general, men with a waist-to-hip ratio of greater than 1.0 and women with a ratio greater than 0.8 are considered to have an excess accumulation of fat in their abdomens. *
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*SOURCE: NIDDK