Disease‑specific obesity index

Different obesity measures (visceral adiposity, triglyceride‑glucose, body‑shape index) have different predictive power for specific chronic diseases, so health systems should consider disease‑targeted indices or composite risk scores rather than relying on BMI alone. A ChinaHEART analysis of 4.26 million adults found visceral adiposity best predicted cardiovascular risk, triglyceride‑glucose best predicted diabetes, and body‑shape index predicted COPD risk, while none strongly predicted cancer. — Shifting from BMI to disease‑targeted indices would change screening guidelines, risk communication, research comparability, and potentially insurance and resource allocation, with equity implications across populations.