BMI for Children and Teens
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BMI for Children and Teens
BMI for Children and Teens
(also known as BMI for age)
BMI IS USED DIFFERENTLY WITH CHILDREN THAN IT IS WITH ADULTS
BMI for adults is one indicator of health risk that tells you if you are: Underweight, Normal, obese or Obesity.
BMI for children and teens, is used only to assess underweight, obese, and risk for obese, because children's body fatness changes over the years as they grow. And, girls and boys differ in their body fatness as they mature.
This is why BMI for children, is plotted on gender specific growth charts and must be gender and age specific.1, 2
The charts are used for children and teens 2 - 20 years of age. And contain a series of curved lines that indicate specific percentiles, whose meaning is the following:
Underweight Less than 5th percentile
Normal Between the 5th and 85th percentile
At risk of obese From 85th to 95th percentile
obese Equal of over the 95th percentile
The BMI index decreases during the preschool years, and increases into adulthood.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN IF MY CHILD HAS THE 70th PERCENTILE?
The 70th percentile means that compared to children of the same gender and age, 70% weight less than him and 30 % more than him.
A children's BMI might grow just because the child grows, and the children can still have always the same percentile, as the following table shows:
Age 2 years - BMI 19.3 - Percentile 95th
Age 4 years - BMI 17.8 - Percentile 95th
Age 9 years - BMI 21.0 - Percentile 95th
Age 13 years - BMI 25.1 - Percentile 95th
The BMI declines during the preschool years and increases as the children get older.
IS BMI-FOR-AGE A USEFUL TOOL?
Yes, it's a very useful tool, because it provides a reference for adolescents that can be used beyond puberty, it compares well to laboratory measures of body fat, and can be used to track body size throughout life.
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Written by Dr. Roberto A. Bonomi
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This article may be reprinted provided no changes are made and this resource box is included in full.
NOTE: All information about your health is for educational purposes only. For specific medical advice, diagnoses, and treatment, consult your doctor.
References:
1 Hammer LD, Kraemer HC, Wilson DM, Ritter PL, Dornbusch SM. Standardized percentile curves of body-mass index for children and adolescents. American Journal of Disease of Child. 1991; 145:259-263.
2 Pietrobelli A, Faith MS, Allison DB, Gallagher D, Chiumello G, Heymsfield, SB. Body mass index as a measure of adiposity among children and adolescents: A validation study. Journal of Pediatrics. 1998; 132:204-210
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