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Training Module: Using the BMI-for-Age Growth Charts

Advantages to Using BMI-for-age
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Bar chart example of Tracking BMI-for-Age from Birth to 18 Years of Overweight Children who are Obese at Age 25

The tracking of BMI that occurs from childhood to adulthood is clearly shown in data from a study by Robert Whitaker and colleagues (Whitaker et al., 1997). They examined the probability of obesity in young adults in relation to the presence or absence of overweight at various times during childhood. For example, in children 10 to 15 years old, 10% of those with a BMI-for-age < 85th percentile were obese at age 25 whereas 75% of those with a BMI-for-age > 85th percentile were obese as adults and 80% of those with a BMI-for-age > 95th percentile were obese at age 25. (The sample size for the study was 854.) From this study, it is clear that an overweight child is more likely than a child of normal weight to be obese as an adult.

Other studies have shown this same trend of tracking occurring from childhood to adulthood (Guo et al., 1999; Guo et al., 1994; Garn and LaVelle, 1985).

 

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