PART 6 of the series in
"The weight of our nation:
India"
BMI in Children
Also known as the Quetelet index
Determination of BMI
BMI is not always the best way for determination of ideal
weight in the case of body builders, children and elders.
“After BMI is calculated for children and teens,
the BMI number is plotted on the CDC BMI-for-age growth charts (for either
girls or boys) to obtain a percentile ranking. Percentiles are the most
commonly used indicator to assess the size and growth patterns of individual
children”
BMI
for age weight status categories and the corresponding percentiles are shown in
the following table.
|
Weight Status Category
|
Percentile Range
|
|
Underweight
|
Less than the 5th percentile
|
|
Healthy weight
|
5th percentile to less than the
85th percentile
|
|
Overweight
|
85th to less than the 95th
percentile
|
|
Obese
|
Equal to or greater than the 95th
percentile
|
“A child may have a high BMI for age and sex, but
to determine if excess fat is a problem, a health care provider would need to
perform further assessments. These assessments might include skin fold thickness
measurements, evaluations of diet, physical activity, family history, and other
appropriate health screenings.”
|
The Childs BMI
calculator provides BMI and the corresponding BMI-for-age percentile on a CDC
BMI-for-age growth chart. Use this calculator for children and teens, aged 2
through 19 years old.
|
BMI number is calculated the same way for
children and adults, the criteria used to interpret the meaning of the BMI
number for children and teens are different from those used for adults. For
children and teens, BMI age- and sex-specific percentiles are used for two
reasons:
·
The amount of body fat
changes with age.
·
The amount of body fat
differs between girls and boys.
See the following graphic for an example for a
10-year-old boy and a 15-year-old boy who both have a BMI-for-age of 23. (Note
that two children of different ages are plotted on the same growth chart to
illustrate a point. Normally the measurement for only one child is plotted on a
growth chart.
reference:
(1) Centre
for disease control and prevention http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/childrens_bmi/about_childrens_bmi.html#What%20is%20BMI
No comments:
Post a Comment