Anthropometric percentiles for Peruvian adults: population reference curves for body mass index, waist circumference, and waist-to-height ratio
Authors' conclusion
Age- and sex-specific anthropometric percentiles reveal distinctive age patterns that differ substantially from international cut-off points. Classical criteria for abdominal obesity (ATP III, IDF) and WHtR (≥0.5) systematically overestimate prevalence in the Peruvian population, with discrepancies reaching differences of up to 23.5 percentage points between criteria. Altitude differences are clinically significant, suggesting specific physiological adaptations in Andean populations.
Study context
- Population
- Peruvian adults aged 20–97 years, Demographic and Family Health Survey (DHS) 2015 to 2023385,247 initially
- Participants
- 164,513 adults
- Outcome
- Age- and sex-specific percentile curves (P5–P97) for BMI, WC and WHtR
Methodological detailsanalytical, population-based survey (DHS 2015 to 2023), LMS method
- Analytical
- Population-based survey (DHS 2015 to 2023)
- LMS method
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Anthropometric distributions
- Age (mean ± SD), years
- 44.38 ± 16.72
- Body mass index (BMI) (mean ± SD), kg/m²
- 27.77 ± 4.80
- Overweight prevalence (BMI criteria)
- 42.16%
- Obesity prevalence (BMI criteria)
- 28.09%
- Abdominal obesity by waist circumference (WC), ATP III criterion
- 44.75%
- Abdominal obesity by WC, IDF criterion
- 68.31%
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Altitude differences, sea level vs high altitude (≥3000 m)
- BMI difference
- 2.5-3.0 kg/m²
- WC difference
- 4-6 cm
- Waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) difference
- 0.04-0.06 units
- Described as clinically significant
Original publication
Anthropometric percentiles for Peruvian adults: population reference curves for body mass index, waist circumference, and waist-to-height ratio. Int J Obes (Lond). Published 20 February 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →