bmi calculation for children in southern asia

Current suggestions include focusing on children whose body mass indexes exceed the 85th percentile who are rapidly gaining weight who have a family history of type 2 diabetes or hypercholesterolemia or who have hypertension or signs of insulin resistance. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Heart Association have adopted a more aggressive stance, based largely on consensus opinion. Preventive Services Task Force has not found sufficient evidence to support screening children for obesity or other cardiovascular risk factors. A modification of the metabolic syndrome criteria designed for children and adolescents shows that as many as 50 percent of those who are severely overweight have the syndrome. The growing prevalence of overweight in children and adolescents is paralleled by the growth of its associated complications in that population: hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and metabolic syndrome. Obesity in adults is associated with cardiovascular risk factors including hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes. The number of obese children and adolescents has tripled in the past 20 years. According to the 2003–2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 17 percent of persons two to 19 years of age are overweight. Losing a small amount of weight, 5 to 10%, and maintaining this weight loss can have a significant positive impact on your overall health.Obesity continues to be a growing public health problem. Whatever your weight there may be changes you want to make to improve your health, making a few small sustainable changes to your lifestyle can improve your health. People from these backgrounds may be at higher risk of health problems at a lower BMI than people from other ethnicities.įor a lot of people, achieving a BMI within the ‘healthy range’ is not realistic. The BMI ranges are slightly different for people from South Asian, Chinese, African-Caribbean and black African backgrounds. Results of 25 and over are described as a ‘higher BMI’ and may be just one of the many reasons some of us are at higher risk of some health conditions, including type 2 diabetes. have lost weight because you’ve been ill or not eating very much.Use our chart to find out if you are over or under weight using your BMI result 40 or over – This is described as severe obesity.between 30 and 39.9 – This is described as obesity.between 25 and 29.9 – This is described as overweight.between 18.5 and 24.9 – This is described as the ‘healthy range’.under 18.5 – This is described as underweight.As such a BMI calculation is not a suitable measure for some people including children and young people under 18, pregnant women and athletes. Sex and other factors which can impact your weight can also lead to an inaccurate reading. Just because someone has a ‘normal BMI’ does not mean that they are healthy.īMI doesn’t take account of body composition, for example, muscle, fat, bone density. Within a population there will always be people who are at the extremes (have a high BMI or low BMI).Ī high or low BMI may be an indicator of poor diet, varying activity levels, or high stress. BMI charts are mainly used for working out the health of populations rather than individuals. What is body mass index (BMI)?īMI is used to categorise people’s weight. It’s difficult to know what an individual’s ideal weight should be. The things that have happened to us include: There are many things that affect our weight and health. These include the things that have happened to us and the things that we do.

Bmi calculation for children in southern asia