This inaccuracy may lead to a misdiagnosis or an incorrect assessment of risk factors between individuals.īMI can offer a rough idea of whether or not a person is at a moderate weight, and it is useful for measuring trends in population studies. Studies have shown that non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic Black, and Mexican Americans may have significantly different levels of body fat but the same BMI as people from other groups. They can have a high BMI because they have more muscle mass, but this does not mean they weigh too much for their height.Īnother limitation of BMI is that it does not distinguish between people of different racial or ethnic groups. For example, high performance athletes tend have a lot of muscle and little body fat. While it takes height and weight into consideration, it does not account for factors such as: What is the problem with BMI?īMI is a very basic measurement. If a person has questions about their child’s BMI, they should consult a doctor.

The CDC’s BMI charts for children use percentiles that compare measurements with boys and girls of the same age and gender. To calculate a child’s BMI, a person can use the CDC’s calculator for children and teenagers. The CDC use both age and sex assigned at birth in its BMI calculations for people between the ages of 2–19 years. This is because children typically grow larger with age. BMI based on ageĪge is not a factor in BMI for adults, but it is for children. A person can talk with their doctor if they have questions about calculating or interpreting their BMI score.

BMI is just one tool to understand body size, and it does not account for all of the ways that people’s bodies may differ. 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.

Children's bmi calculator metric