Interrelationships of height (H), weight (W), triceps skinfold (TSF), subscapular skinfold (SSF), systolic blood, pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), which were measured for the subjects (age: 35-49 years old) of the National Nutrition Survey in 1981, were analysed to evaluate the usefulness of the body mass index (W/HH²) as an indicator of obesity.
(1) Among physical indides such as H, W, log W, W/H, log W/H, W/HH², log W/HH², W/H³, log W/H³, TSF, SSF and log SFS (100×log (10× (TSF+SSF) -18)), the strongest positive correladon with SBP or DBP was recognized for W/HH².
(2) Among indices composed from H and W, i. e., W/H, W/HH² and W/H³, the poorest correlation with H was noted for W/HH².
(3) Among indices except for skinfold values, the strongest positive correlation with skinfolds (TSF, SSF or log SFS) was recognized for W/HH².
(4) Prevalence rates of hypertensives by W/HH² increased linearly with W/HH² when it exceeded 22 in each sex.
(5) Prevalence rates of hypertensives by log SFS revealed different patterns between sexes, and did not show a simple increase with log SFS when log SFS became over 270 in men and over 290 in women.
From these results, W/HH² may be useful as an indicator of obesity but it can not be a substitute of skinfold in a wide range of obesity.