Waist-to-Height Ratio — NHANES Microdata Derivation
No published paper provides sex- and age-stratified WHtR percentile tables for US adults. The CDC NHANES body measures examination collects waist circumference (BMXWAIST) and standing height (BMXHT) for all participants. Percentiles were derived as follows:
- Data: Three NHANES releases were used: 2015–2016 (
BMX_I / DEMO_I), 2017–March 2020 (P_BMX / P_DEMO), and 2021–2023 (BMX_L / DEMO_L). Adults aged 20 and over with complete waist and height measurements were included after filtering biologically impossible values (n ≈ 18,700). - Weights: MEC examination weights were applied:
WTMEC2YRfor 2015–2016 and 2021–2023;WTMECPRPfor the 2017–March 2020 release. Each cycle's weight was divided by 3 before pooling to give equal contribution across cycles. No CDC-prescribed pooling method exists for this combination of releases. - Pandemic discontinuity: CDC advises caution when combining the 2021–2023 cycle with earlier cycles due to a 1.5-year fieldwork gap. Cycle-specific medians were compared against the pooled table and no material discontinuity was observed.
- Quantiles: Weighted empirical quantiles (P5, P25, P50, P75, P95) were computed for each sex × 5-year age bracket using linear interpolation on the weighted cumulative distribution. Survey-design standard errors were not computed.
This is an internally derived dataset, not a peer-reviewed publication. The derivation method and its limitations are summarised on the reference page.