Previously, she told Healthline, “there has been no way to accurately follow these children with higher BMIs. Elizabeth Davis, Pediatric Sports Medicine Physician at Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children. The changes will allow medical professionals to monitor children better, said Dr. However, in the new chart, Newton explained, “there are expanded categories of ‘obese’.” It has also extended to BMI measurements up to 60 - whereas, previously, only BMIs up to 37 were covered. “Everyone with a BMI over the 95 th percentile was lumped together in the same category of ‘obese’,” she told Healthline - despite the fact “there are levels of severity.” Paula Newton, a pediatric endocrinologist with the University of Maryland Children’s Hospital and assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “Under the previous charts, it was difficult to categorize the severity of obesity,” said Dr. They are classed as ‘severely obese’ if their BMI is 120% higher than the 95th percentile. The previous iteration of the chart, released in 2000, was based on data collected between 19, when levels of obesity among children were lower.Īccording to the CDC, a child is considered ‘obese’ if their BMI is higher than 95% of kids of the same gender and age. For instance, if a child’s BMI falls within the 60th percentile, it means that 60% of kids the same age had the same or lower BMI score. Percentiles are a method of grouping and ‘ranking’ for easier comparison.

“The chart data is plotted based on percentiles, and the healthy range for BMI changes over age,” Berger shared with Healthline. David, MD and Wholistic Pediatrics & Family Care. “Depending on where the child falls on the chart, a healthcare provider can quickly see if the child is underweight, in the ideal weight range, overweight, or obese,” explained Dr. This number is then compared to people of the same age and gender to gauge whether their overall body mass is considered ‘healthy’. These charts take the height and weight of an individual to create a figure. Before diving into the new changes, let’s take a quick look at what BMI charts are and how they work.

Children's bmi calculator cdc