BMI IN CHILDREN

What is BMI?

Body Mass Index is calculated using weight and height measurements and is an indicator of body fatness. It is not a direct measurement of fat, but research has shown that BMI measurements correlate to direct measurement. It’s an inexpensive and easy-to-perform way to screen for possible weight issues that may lead to health problems. BMI is measured differently in adults than in children, so it is important to use the proper calculator to find out yours and your child’s separately.

BMI is not used to diagnose health issues, but it can be an early screening tool. Your health care provider may use additional information, such as family history, information about diet and exercise or a measurement of skinfold thickness or other tests to determine whether excess fat is a problem.

You can find your child’s BMI by entering his or her height and weight into this online BMI calculator for children and teens from the CDC.

What does my child’s BMI mean?

For children and teens, BMI is evaluated using age- and gender-specific charts that take into account the different growth patterns for gender. Weight and the amount of fat in the body differ for boys and girls and those levels change as they grow taller and older.

(link opens in new window)These charts(link opens in new window) help health care providers determine how a child’s particular BMI reading compares to the readings of other U.S. children his or her age. The group is divided into percentiles that reflect whether a child is at a healthy weight, underweight, overweight or obese.

Children over age 2, or teens whose BMI is:

• Less than the 5th percentile are considered underweight.
• Between the 5th percentile and less than the 85th percentile are at a healthy weight.
• In the 85th percentile to less than the 95th percentile are considered overweight.
• Equal to, or greater than the 95th percentile are considered obese.
• Disc
• Our study is the first that we are aware of that uses qualitative methods to elicit pediatric primary care providers’ thoughts and feelings about use of body mass index and identification of overweight. Previous studies have used quantitative methods to examine the diagnosis of overweight and were conducted before or just after the release of the 2000 CDC growth charts that incorporate BMI 11, 13. Conducting our focus groups four years after the revised growth charts were released allowed us to examine providers’ knowledge of and attitudes about BMI and related recommendations after an opportunity to implement them.
  Previous work suggests that pediatric primary care providers feel ineffective in the face of the rapidly growing challenge posed by childhood overweight 17. Participants in this study not surprisingly reiterated that childhood overweight is “overwhelming,” both because of the number of children affected and because of the problem’s complex root causes and solutions. Identifying barriers to the effective management of demanding clinical problems can be the first step toward determining what types of tools, resources, and support clinicians need. Addressing the barriers with practical tools and support, in turn, can reduce the extent to which clinicians perceive the problem as uncontrollable. Attempts to lessen barriers have been useful in helping clinicians manage other complex problems that have lifestyle, behavior, and community components, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder 20.
  Pediatric primary care providers may feel challenged not only by the problem of overweight, but by the need to balance early identification and counseling about overweight with other high-priority issues during well-child visits. Recommended screening and counseling already exceed the time available in many pediatric primary care visits 21. With as few as 16 to 19 minutes available for well-child visits, providers have reported elsewhere that they do not always counsel about recommended topics such as tobacco cessation and seatbelt use 22. Providers face difficult decisions in determining which topics to emphasize, and though most report that AAP recommendations are an important guide, other factors also influence their decision-making 23. Competing priorities may make it difficult for providers to fully implement new recommendations such as routine use of BMI. When providers perceive new recommendations as effective and useful, they may rely upon them more readily, as evidenced by extensive agreement with the AAP’s media use guidelines 24. Further work may be helpful in determining how to make recommendations about identification of overweight maximally useful to pediatric primary care providers.