What is Body Mass Index - Test Your Knowledge
- BMI-for-age is a diagnostic tool used to identify children and teens who are underweight, overweight, or obese.
True
FalseANSWER: False – That’s correct. BMI-for-age is a SCREENING tool used to identify children and teens who are underweight, overweight, or obese. It is not a diagnostic tool.
- BMI is age- and sex-specific for children and teens aged 2 to 20 years. Thus, sex-specific BMI-for-age is the measure used to classify children and teens as underweight, overweight, or obese:
True
FalseANSWER: True – That is correct. BMI changes substantially for children as age increases, so the measure used to screen for obesity, overweight, and underweight is BMI-for-age. BMI-for-age is sex-specific for children and teens. This is unlike BMI for adults, which is neither age- nor sex-specific and for which cutoff points of a BMI of 25 and 30 have been established to identify overweight and obesity, respectively.
- John is 22 months old. BMI-for-age can be used to determine if he is underweight, overweight, or obese.
True
FalseANSWER: False – That’s correct. BMI-for-age is used to screen children and teens aged 2 (24 months) to 20 years for underweight, overweight, or obesity.
- Page last reviewed: May 9, 2014
- Page last updated: May 9, 2014
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