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Recent evidence suggests that endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) may cause perturbations in endogenous hormonal regulation that predispose to weight gain. Using data from NHANES (1999-2002), we investigated the association between body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and selected persistent organic pollutants (POPs) via multiple linear regressions. Consistent interaction was found between gender, ln oxychlordane and ln p,p' DDT. Also, we found an association between WC and ln oxychlordane and ln hpcdd in subjects with detectable levels of POPs, whereas an association between WC and ln p,p' DDT was observed in all subjects. Furthermore, ln Ocdd showed an increase with higher WC and BMI, whereas, ln trans-nonachlor decreased with higher BMI. Hence, BMI and WC are associated with POPs levels, making the chemicals plausible contributors to the obesity epidemic.

Objective: The objective of this investigation was to examine the relationship between BMI and waist circumference (WC) by gender and race subgroups from U.S. population-based data from 1959 to 2004 and to investigate the trend in WC over calendar time., Research Methods and Procedures: Demographic and anthropometric cross-sectional data on 30,730 participants 18 to 79 years old across five national surveys were included. We regressed WC on BMI while controlling for age in each time period for blacks and whites by gender., Results: The relationship between BMI and WC as characterized by the slope of the linear regression of WC on BMI does not seem to be changing significantly over time. A small (range, 0.08 to 0.27 cm/yr) increase in WC over time was observed., Discussion: The implications of these findings for public health and for understanding any extant changes in the BMI-mortality rate relationship remain to be elucidated.

A correction to the article "Waist Circumference Values Are Increasing Beyond Those Expected From BMI Increases," published in a 2007 issue of "Obesity," is presented.