BMI-for-age adjusts the standard BMI calculation for age-related changes in body composition. It is important to use when assessing children’s health, and can also be useful for adults as their bodies change with age. The BMI-for-age percentile system compares a child’s BMI to others in their age group to determine if they are overweight, underweight, or at risk.
BMI-for-age, also known as body mass index-for-age, is a concept that uses the standard calculation of body mass index but, when assessing that BMI, takes into account the person’s age. The body changes as we age, so the amount of fat content that is normal changes as we age. Keeping this in mind is important when using the BMI to determine if a person is overweight or underweight. BMI-for-age has important implications for adults as they age, but it is a term that is more common when discussing childhood obesity issues.
Calculating the BMI of anyone, whether an adult or a child, is relatively simple. The subject begins by measuring their height and weight. To calculate BMI, the subject simply multiplies weight in pounds by 703, then divides this value by height in inches squared. When metric values are used to calculate BMI, the subject simply uses the weight in kilograms and divides that number by the height in meters.
Adjusting the BMI for age is particularly important when using the BMI to assess a child’s health because children’s bodies undergo substantial changes as they grow and develop. A healthy BMI for a fully grown adult can be very different from a healthy BMI for a child. As a result, instead of adhering to the standard table of BMI values, an infant’s BMI assessment is performed using a percentile system to determine whether a child may be overweight, underweight, or obese.
The BMI-for-age percentile system compares a child’s BMI to other children in the same age group. In general, when a child’s BMI is above the 95th percentile for her age group, it means the child is overweight. When the BMI is equal to or less than the fifth percentile, the child is underweight. When the BMI is between the 85th and 95th percentile, this may indicate that a child is at risk of being overweight.
However, BMI-for-age is not only important in determining healthy BMI levels for children. Adult body development is not as extreme or rapid as that of children, but adult bodies do undergo changes as they age. As men and women enter middle age, they tend to see an increase in BMI. As they reach old age, the BMI can drop, sometimes to unhealthy levels. To account for these bodily changes, it is important to use BMI-for-age values to determine the healthiest BMI levels for people of all ages.
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