- A study by Italian researchers suggests the Body Mass Index (BMI) system may frequently misdiagnose individuals as overweight or obese.
- The research compared BMI measurements with more accurate dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans in 1,351 adults.
- Findings revealed that over a third of patients classified as obese by BMI were actually overweight, and more than half of those labelled overweight were misclassified.
- Specifically, three-quarters of the misclassified overweight patients were found to be of normal weight when assessed by DXA scans.
- Researchers recommend that healthcare professionals should not rely solely on BMI, suggesting it be combined with other measures like body fat percentage or waist circumference.
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