A Longitudinal Comparison of Alternatives to Body Mass Index Z-Scores for Children with Very High Body Mass Indexes

The current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) body mass index (BMI) z-scores are inaccurate for BMIs of ≥97th percentile. We, therefore, considered 5 alternatives that can be used across the entire BMI distribution: modified BMI-for-age z-score (BMIz), BMI expressed as a percentage of the 95th percentile (%CDC95th percentile), extended BMIz, BMI expressed as a percentage of the median (%median), and %median adjusted for the dispersion of BMIs.

Source: The Journal of Pediatrics - March 4, 2021 Category: Pediatrics Authors: David S. Freedman, Amy J. Goodwin Davies, Lyudmyla Kompaniyets, Samantha J. Lange, Alyson B. Goodman, Thao-Ly Tam Phan, F. Sessions Cole, Amanda Dempsey, Nathan Pajor, Ihuoma Eneli, Dimitri A. Christakis, Christopher B. Forrest Tags: Original Article Source Type: research