BMI alternative for identifying obesity ‘could prevent misdiagnosis in millions’

Combining body mass index with other measurements and tests would lead to better care and outcomes, experts say

An alternative to BMI for diagnosing obesity could prevent misdiagnosis in millions of people worldwide, according to doctors who found it more accurately distinguished healthy people from those with harmful excess body fat.

Medical experts have long considered body mass index a blunt instrument for defining obesity, leading to concerns that substantial numbers of people with excess body fat are missed while others who are healthy are wrongly diagnosed.