Contact: Olivia Walther, [email protected] , WASHINGTON (Aug 11, 2026) - The size of a person’s midsection is a better indicator of cardiovascular disease risk when compared to their body mass index (BMI) alone, according to a study published in JACC , the flagship journal of the American College of Cardiology. BMI has traditionally been used to determine overweight or obesity, common risk factors for heart disease, but this study shows that not accounting for waist circumference (WC) or waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) can lead to misclassification of cardiovascular disease risk. “Indeed, it appears that WC and WHR reclassify risk defined by traditional BMI thresholds,” said Michael J. Blaha, MD, MPH, senior author of the study and director of clinical research at Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease.…