Body mass index (BMI) is widely used to define obesity. In studies of pancreatic beta-cell/islet mass, BMI is also a common standard for matching control subjects in comparative studies along with age and sex, based on the existing dogma of their significant positive correlation reported in the literature. We aimed to test the feasibility of BMI and BSA to assess obesity and predict beta-cell/islet mass. We used National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data that provided dual-energy Xray absorptiometry (DXA)-measured fat mass (percent body fat; %BF), BMI, and BSA for adult subjects (20-75y; 4,879 males and 4,953 females). We then analyzed 152 cases of islet isolation performed at our center for correlation between islet yields and various donor anthropometric indices. From NHANES, over 50% of male subjects and 60% of female subjects with BMI:20.1–28.1 were obese as defined by %BF, indicating a poor correlation between BMI and %BF. BSA was also a poor indicator of %BF, as broad overlap was observed in different BSA ranges. Additionally, BMI and BSA ranges markedly varied between sex and race/ethnicity groups. From islet isolation, BMI and BSA accounted for only a small proportion of variance in islet equivalent (IEQ; r² = 0.09 and 0.11, respectively). BMI and obesity were strongly correlated in cases of high BMI subjects. However, the critical populations were non-obese subjects with BMI ranging from 20.1–28.1, in which a substantial proportion of individuals may carry excess body fat. Correlations between BMI, BSA, pancreas weight and beta-cell/islet mass were low.

体重指数（BMI）被广泛用于定义肥胖。在胰腺β细胞/胰岛质量的研究中，BMI也是比较研究中与年龄和性别匹配的对照对象匹配的通用标准，这是基于文献中已有的显着正相关的教条。我们旨在测试BMI和BSA评估肥胖症和预测β细胞/胰岛质量的可行性。我们使用了国家健康和营养检查调查（NHANES）数据，该数据为成年受试者（20-75岁； 4,879岁，男性和女性）提供了双能X线吸收法（DXA）测量的脂肪质量（体脂肪百分比；％BF），BMI和BSA。 4,953名女性）。然后，我们分析了152例在我们中心进行的胰岛分离情况，以了解胰岛产量与各种供体人体测量指标之间的相关性。从NHANES，根据％BF定义，超过50％的BMI：20.1–28.1的男性受试者和60％的女性受试者肥胖，这表明BMI与％BF之间的相关性较差。BSA也是％BF的不良指标，因为在不同的BSA范围内观察到广泛的重叠。此外，性别和种族/族裔群体之间的BMI和BSA范围明显不同。从胰岛隔离来看，BMI和BSA仅占胰岛当量（IEQ; r²  = 0.09和0.11）。在高BMI受试者的情况下，BMI与肥胖密切相关。但是，关键人群是BMI为20.1-28.1的非肥胖受试者，其中很大一部分人可能携带过多的体内脂肪。BMI，BSA，胰腺重量和β-细胞/胰岛质量之间的相关性很低。