BMI Measurements Inaccurate But Still A Government Gold Standard

Everyone needs to read this NY Times article and then think about how inane the concept has become. The Body Mass Index or “BMI” is used as a measure of a person’s body weight. If your BMI is between 18.5 and 25, you’re normal. More than 25 and you’re overweight. More than 30 and you’re obese. The measurement is based on a person’s weight and height, but it was originally created in the 1800s to measure human growth – not as a measure of a person’s ideal body weight or health. More recent studies show that people considered “overweight” using the BMI measurement are healthier than those who are at the lower end of the “normal” measurement. One study shows that likelihood of death increases with a BMI of less than 23. BMI doesn’t account for the distribution of body fat (abdominal fat is less healthy), BMI falsely classifies muscular individuals as “obese”, and even the CDC has recommended that doctors not use BMI as a diagnostic tool. Yet what is one of the things our government requires that doctors calculate on every patient’s chart in order to meet “meaningful use” criteria? You guessed it. A BMI measurement. This is what happens when inmates run the asylum. The reason that we are being required to measure BMI isn’t because a patient’s BMI has any meaningful clinical use … it’s that the BMI can be measured. If it can be measured, it ca...
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: CMS Policy Press Ganey Source Type: blogs