Waist-to-height ratio as an anthropometric marker of overweight in elderly Brazilians.

This study's objective was to identify the cut-off point for waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) with the best sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for the elderly Brazilian population, using body mass index (BMI) as the anthropometric reference. A representative sample of the Brazilian population consisted of 5,428 elderly individuals participating in an epidemiological survey. The variables were weight, height, and waist circumference (WC). WHtR was assessed with BMI as the gold standard, using two proposals for classification of the elderly population's nutritional status. The ideal cut-off point for WHtR simultaneously showing the highest sensitivity and specificity was determined using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Sensitivity from 94.9% to 98.4%, specificity from 43% to 55.4%, and values for area under the ROC curve from 0.878 to 0.883 were identified with a cut-off point of 0.55. We recommend use of WHtR in clinical practice due to its simplicity and good power to detect overweight in the elderly.