Glossary

Anthropometric Index: measurement that combines height, weight, or other proportions of the human body; BMI-for-age is an example

Adiposity: also known as body fatness; the amount of fat in the body, expressed either as total fat mass (in kilograms) or the fraction (percentage) of total body fat.

Healthy Weight defined as sex-specific BMI-for-age ≥5th and <85th percentile in children and teens aged 2 to 20 years

Height: also referred to as stature; distance from the crown of the head to the surface on which the individual is standing when they are not wearing shoes; measured for children and teens aged ≥2 years

Length: the correct linear measurement for infants aged <2 years or children aged 2-3 years who cannot stand unassisted; measured in the recumbent position

Overweight: defined as sex-specific BMI-for-age ≥85th and <95th percentile in children and teens aged 2 to 20 years.

Severe obesity: defined as sex-specific BMI-for-age ≥120% of the 95th percentile or BMI ≥35 kg/m2 in children and teens aged 2 to 20 years; is a subset of obesity

Sex: refers to sex assigned at birth (male or female); in CDC growth charts, boys refers to males and girls refers to females

Stature: see height

Underweight: defined as sex-specific BMI-for-age <5th percentile in children and teens aged 2 to 20 years

Z-score: in a standard normal distribution, the z-score represents the number of standard deviations away from the population mean. In other words, it indicates the degree to which an individual’s measurement deviates from what is expected for that individual.