A recent study by Munich Re Life US and health data analytics firm Klarity leveraged biometric data from the UK Biobank and found to consider alternate attributes to Body Mass Index (BMI) for assessing mortality risk. Although BMI is an attribute that has been used in life insurance underwriting since the early 20th century to assess obesity and its mortality impact, BMI alone may be an imprecise indicator for metabolic health.

The study considers other physical measurements that can be layered onto BMI to help refine risk assessment, including waist circumference, waist-to-height ratio, and waist-to-hip ratio. 

• The study found that waist-to-height ratio could be used to identify low-mortality-risk individuals in the overweight BMI category.
• Individuals with an overweight BMI but a healthy waist-to-height ratio have a 15% lower mortality risk than those with a healthy BMI but an unhealthy waist-to-height ratio.
• This outcome was also true for other measurements such as waist-to-hip and waist circumference.
• Full results can be found here.

While the study provides a compelling case for considering alternative measures like waist circumference, waist-to-height ratio, and waist-to-hip ratio, it is important to note that these physical measurements require controlled conditions for accurate measurement, making their widespread use in life insurance underwriting more challenging. Carriers looking to adopt these measures into their underwriting processes can start by piloting programs to collect data, assess customer participation rates, and gain insights into how these attributes are distributed across their insured population. Such pilots serve as a practical step toward evaluating the feasibility and value of integrating these novel measures. 

This study is part of our series examining the potential of third-party data sources to enhance life insurance underwriting.

Sponsored by ITL Partner: Munich Re