The most appropriate adiposity measurements for assessing various fat compartments and the risk of adverse health outcomes is debated. Despite the close correlation between WC and BMI (Table S1), WC has been reported to have a BMI-independent impact on risk of death [1]. WHR is less strongly correlated to BMI than WC (Table S1) and is used as a more specific surrogate for fat distribution [1]. In our largest population based samples we see (as expected) that measures of central and overall adiposity are highly-correlated (BMI has r2∼0.9 with WC and ∼0.6 WHR, Table S1). When compared to the gold standard of MRI measures of central adiposity, WC and WHR are equally well-correlated to central adiposity (r2∼0.6, and 0.5, respectively) as are measures involving DXA (r2∼0.6) [4].
