A Comparative Study of Body Mass Index, Body Weight and Waist to Height Ratio to Depict Serum Cholesterol Level in Healthy Young Individuals

Abstract

Introduction: Many external and internal factors either directly or indirectly regulate our health. Similarly, many parameters such as high glucose, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure are the indicators of our healthiness. Body Mass Index (BMI) and Waist to Height Ratio (WtHR) are such parameters which indicate the degree of healthiness of an individual. Current study aimed at estimation and comparison of the statistical relationships of BMI, body weight and WtHR with serum cholesterol level in healthy Individuals of age group of 18-30. Material and methods: This study was done on total 54 healthy persons (27 male and 27 females) of age group 18-30. The data of age, height weight and waist circumference of all participants were collected. In their fasting blood samples, total serum cholesterol was measured by colorimetric kit. In this study statistical correlation was confirmed by three different statistical methods. Results: Our statistical analysis suggested that BMI, body weight and WtHR are positively correlated with average total serum cholesterol level with a significant p value (<0.05). Statistical correlation coefficient values further suggested that BMI could be a better predictor of cholesterol level associated diseases as compared to body weight and WtHR in healthy individuals of age group 18-30. High BMI and Waist circumference are indicators of overweight and/ obesity. Conclusion: These findings indicated that BMI could be a better predictor of cholesterol level associated diseases as compared to body weight and WtHR in healthy individuals of age group 18-30.