Posted on Jun 20, 2023
The AMA is encouraging doctors to de-emphasize the use of BMI when assessing health
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The American Medical Association adopted a new policy last week encouraging doctors to de-emphasize the use of the body mass index (BMI) when gauging health and obesity. The wide usage of the weight-based metric within the medical industry has long faced criticism for it being a flawed and narrow measure to determine one's health risk.
We speak with Elaine Chen, cardiovascular disease reporter at STAT News, about why getting medicine to displace BMI won't be easy.
We speak with Elaine Chen, cardiovascular disease reporter at STAT News, about why getting medicine to displace BMI won't be easy.
The AMA is encouraging doctors to de-emphasize the use of BMI when assessing health
Posted from wbur.org
Medical
Health
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 3
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BMI is not the only way to determine obesity. Yes, it’s simplistic and when I punch in the height and weight on a client the computer also spits out the BMI. It should never be the only datapoint one looks at.
Take a gander at how many different methods the military has used to determine obesity, and none of them is perfect.
It’s akin to my doctor seeing my EKG for the first time and immediately sends me to a cardiologist I have now seen once. He wants a nuclear stress test and echocardiogram. Now for the fun part. My EKG hasn’t changed in over 20 years. I am in no hurry to get these scheduled.
Take a gander at how many different methods the military has used to determine obesity, and none of them is perfect.
It’s akin to my doctor seeing my EKG for the first time and immediately sends me to a cardiologist I have now seen once. He wants a nuclear stress test and echocardiogram. Now for the fun part. My EKG hasn’t changed in over 20 years. I am in no hurry to get these scheduled.
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"BMI is derived from a simple math formula created in the 1830s by Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet, a Belgian astronomer, mathematician, statistician, and sociologist....However, BMI has some important flaws. For example, it does not measure overall fat or lean tissue (muscle) content.
It aims to estimate whether a person has a healthy weight by dividing their weight in kilograms (kg) by their height in meters (m) squared...."
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/255712#is-it-too-simple
It doesn't distinguish between muscle & fat and makes no calculation for age or gender. He made up a formula. He didn't apply real world measurements to ascertain it's validity.
It aims to estimate whether a person has a healthy weight by dividing their weight in kilograms (kg) by their height in meters (m) squared...."
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/255712#is-it-too-simple
It doesn't distinguish between muscle & fat and makes no calculation for age or gender. He made up a formula. He didn't apply real world measurements to ascertain it's validity.
How useful is body mass index (BMI)?
BMI has been used for more than 100 years to assess weight, but how accurate is it? Is there a better way to measure health risk in relation to body weight?
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BMI is racist apparently. If you get enough activists to chant long enough, I guess you can change the world. They want to be body positive and having a number index saying that that body image is unhealthy, they don't want to hear it.
It's hilarious!
It's hilarious!
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