What to Know
Body mass index (BMI) is a measure of weight relative to height. For children and teens, BMI is used to assess if a child is gaining weight too quickly or too slowly and to understand the childs’ weight category – underweight, healthy weight, overweight, obese or severly obese. This is because children are constantly growing and do so at different rates.
BMI uses gender-specific BMI-for-age percentiles for children and teens ages 2 through 19. BMI is one potential health indicator and should be considered with other factors when assessing a child or teens health. These factors may include their medical history, health behaviors, physical exam findings, and laboratory findings. Read more about BMI here.
Understanding the Results
BMI is a calculated measure of weight relative to height. BMI is used to assess a child’s physical growth.
Because children and teens are growing, BMI values must be expressed relative to other children of the same sex and age. BMI-for-age percentiles indicate how your child’s BMI compares to BMIs of children of the same sex and age in the reference population used to create the CDC growth charts.
| BMI Category | BMI Range |
|---|---|
| Underweight | Less than the 5th percentile |
| Healthy Weight | 5th percentile to less than the 85th percentile |
| Overweight | 85th percentile to less than the 95th percentile |
| Obesity | 95th percentile or greater |
| Severe Obesity | 120% of the 95th percentile or greater OR a BMI of 35 kg/m2 or greater |
What can parents, caregivers, and teens do?
- Discuss the BMI results with your healthcare provider as BMI can relate to overall health and well-being.
- Schedule a free consultation with Niroggi here and our coaches will be happy to consult with you
Disclaimer:
This calculator is provided courtesy the CDC – Center for Disease control
(https://www.cdc.gov/bmi/child-teen-calculator/index.html)
This calculator is not a substitute for professional medical advice.
Niroggi is providing this as a service and holds no responsibility for the results provided by this calculator. Parents are asked to reconfirm results with a medical practitioner before taking any action