According to an Israeli nationwide cohort of 1,580 geriatric population from the IsaMabat Zahav (a National Health and Nutrition Survey), A Body Shape Index (ABSI) was found to be independently linked with the risk of mortality and a strong predictor of frailty, as published in ‘Frontiers in Nutrition’ journal.

Itamar Shafran et al. evaluated the effectiveness of A Body Shape Index (ABSI) in comparison to the traditional body mass index (BMI) in predicting mortality and frailty in their recent study. The socio-demographic, clinical, behavioural, and psychosocial data of the included patients were noted. The baseline measurements of weight, height, and waist circumference (WC) were taken and converted into BMI (kg/m2) and ABSI, an innovative BMI-independent measure of abdominal obesity (WC/(BMI2/3*m1/2)).

Over a median follow-up duration of 13 years, a total of 757 deaths were recorded. The study found that ABSI was independently associated with mortality risk, while BMI showed no such association. Specifically, for each standard deviation increase in ABSI, there was a 13% greater mortality risk. Moreover, among the subgroup of participants assessed for frailty (554 survivors), 14% met the criteria for frailty. After adjusting for various factors, the odds of frailty were significantly higher for those with higher ABSI scores compared to BMI. Specifically, the odds ratio for frailty was 1.55 for ABSI, demonstrating a strong predictive ability, while BMI showed no substantial association with frailty.