BMI poor indicator for bariatric surgery
6th January 2012
BMI alone is an inadequate indicator for bariatric surgery, and should not be used as the major criterion for the operation, experts warn.
In an editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a US gastrointestinal and endocrine surgeon said fat distribution - not overall fatness - was critical in assessing obesity-related health risk.
"If body fat is primarily truncal [rather than central], being obese may be associated with little excess health risk or little