At the same BMI, women tend to have more body fat than men.

The correlation between the BMI and body fatness is fairly strong 1,2,3,7, but even if two people have the same BMI, their level of body fatness may differ 12. Top of Page How good is BMI as an indicator of body fatness? This would place the boy in the 95 th percentile for BMI – meaning that his BMI is greater than that of 95% of similarly aged boys in this reference population – and he would be considered to have obesity.įor more information and to access the CDC Growth Chartsįor adults, the interpretation of BMI does not depend on sex or age. For example, a 10-year-old boy of average height (56 inches) who weighs 102 pounds would have a BMI of 22.9 kg/m 2. Obesity among 2- to 19-year-olds is defined as a BMI at or above the 95 th percentile of children of the same age and sex in this 1963 to 1994 reference population. These percentiles were determined using representative data of the US population of 2- to 19-year-olds that was collected in various surveys from 1963-65 to 1988-94 11. The CDC BMI-for-age growth charts take into account these differences and visually show BMI as a percentile ranking. Children and teen’s BMI need to be age and sex-specific because the amount of body fat changes with age and the amount of body fat differs between girls and boys. For more information about interpretation for children and teens, read – What is a BMI percentile and how is it interpreted? Is BMI interpreted the same way for children and teens as it is for adults?īMI is interpreted differently for children and teens, even though it is calculated using the same formula as adult BMI. For children and teens, the interpretation of BMI depends upon age and sex.

Source: Nihiser AJ, Lee SM, Wechsler H, McKenna M, Odom E, Reinold C, Thompson D, Grummer-Strawn L. Provide all parents with a clear and respectful explanation of the BMI results and a list of appropriate follow-up actions. Ensure that resources are available for safe and effective follow-up.

Additional Safeguards for BMI Screening Programs Evaluate the BMI measurement program by assessing the process, intended outcomes, and unintended consequences of the program. Do not use the actual BMI-for-age percentiles of the students as a basis for evaluating student or teacher performance (e.g., in physical education or health education class). Develop efficient data collection procedures. Ensure that the BMI number is calculated and interpreted correctly. Use equipment that can accurately and reliably measure height and weight. Ensure that the setting for data collection is private. Ensure that staff members who measure height and weight have the appropriate expertise and training to obtain accurate and reliable results and minimize the potential for stigmatization. Introduce the program to parents, guardians, students, and school staff ensure that there is an appropriate process in place for obtaining parental consent for measuring students’ height and weight. BMI Measurement Program Safeguardsįollowing is a list of safeguards that schools can use to address concerns that have been raised about school-based BMI measurement programs and increase the potential positive impact the program may have on promoting a healthy weight. Guidance is provided on specific safeguards that need to be addressed before schools decide to collect BMI information. This resource describes the purpose of school-based BMI surveillance and screening, examines current practices, summarizes the recommendations of experts, identifies concerns surrounding programs, and outlines needs for future research. You can view each of these using the tabs at the bottom of the window.

The spreadsheet has 3 worksheets entitled “INSTRUCTIONS”, “MEASUREMENTS”, and “GROUP SUMMARY”. To allow all of the features of this calculator to work, please click “Enable Macros” if prompted when you open the application. This calculator is an Excel spreadsheet that can be downloaded onto your computer. It provides a group summary of children’s BMI-for-age categories and graphs for Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity, and Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity by Sex. This calculator computes BMI and BMI percentiles for individual children in a group using height and weight measurements, sex, date of birth, and date of measurement information that you enter, or import from a spreadsheet or data file. The Children’s BMI Tool for Schools is an Excel spreadsheet intended for use by a school, child care, and other professionals who want to compute Body Mass Index (BMI)-for-age for a group of up to 2,000 children (metric version) or 20,000 children (U.S.

Children’s BMI Group Calculator – Metric Version.Children’s BMI Group Calculator – U.S.

Athletic children bmi calculator