About 1/3 of Canadians are now obese. Researchers saw a steeper increase during the pandemic
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So you also agree that studies point that BMI doesn’t work very well in diagnostics? Because you’re replying the statement with a boldened sentence agreeing with gp.
Or perhaps was the point that it’s not true that “it doesn’t really mean shit now” since the BMI still has some usefulness at the population level?
My point is that the op article and underlying paper is valid and valuable.
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My point is that the op article and underlying paper is valid and valuable.
That’s fair, though I also think it’s fair to criticize the use of BMI and acknowledge all of its flaws. Perhaps mr givesofmefucks is just stating this position but with harsher wording.
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but it seems you’re saying false negatives are a greater concern.
Someone with a bad BMI but healthy will get further testing and told they’re healthy…
Someone with a “good BMI” because they have bird bones and no muscle, just fat, will never have further testing done and always insist BMI is all that matters. You can see it anytime BMI comes up, people ignore all evidence that say they may need to look deeper than that single number.
Consider life in the 1830s to now, it would have been impossible for even the wealthiest to avoid exercise and consume as many calories as the average modern human. Shit just isn’t comparable.
There’s no logical reason to keep using it
While I agree with you that there can be a risk of skinny people missing diagnosis because they’re “healthy”, I think you’re overestimating how well fat people are treated in healthcare. If a patient is fat, there is no further testing done. They’re told to lose weight whether healthy or not, and regardless of whether it’s relevant to their concerns or not. Obesity is still used as a cutoff to deny access to surgeries that will measurably improve their health, despite there often being no increased risk of complication.
As I said, I don’t disagree with your issue about skinny causing medical neglect: the way our society, including medicine, blindly follows weight as the only thing that matters (examples above for fat individuals, telling skinny people with terminal illnesses they look great for having lost weight, amputating functional organs to cause malnourishment and by extension weight loss, even to folks who are arguably healthy and in a mid to low BMI range…) Is detrimental to everyone’s well being.