Home »
Full Forms »
Medical Terms, Abbreviations, and Acronyms
BMI: Full Form, Categories, Outcomes, and How to calculate
By Anushree Goswami Last updated : December 9, 2023
BMI: Body Mass Index
BMI is an abbreviation of "Body Mass Index". It is a process to quantify the classification of an individual under the subsequent categories: underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obese. It is the ratio of an individual's weight in kilograms to the square of his height in meters. An individual with an elevated BMI has a large extent of body weight or body fat for their height.
BMI provides an individual with an approximate estimation of his general health and the prospect of developing chronic diseases like heart disease, high blood pressure, osteoarthritis, type 2 diabetes, gallstones, etc. An extremely muscular person may have an elevated BMI devoid of any health hazard.
In the 1830s, BMI was launched by Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet, a Belgian mathematician. It is also known as the Quetelet index.
BMI Categories
- BMI =< 18.5 indicates Underweight
- BMI = 18.5-24.9 indicates Normal weight
- BMI = 25-29.9 indicates Overweight
- BMI = 30-34.9 indicates Obesity
- BMI= 35-39.9 indicates severely obese
- BMI > 40 indicates morbid obesity
Outcomes of uplifted body weight in adults
The BMI calculations ranges are based on the association between body weight and disease and death. Overweight and obese individuals are at an enlarged possibility for the following diseases:
- Coronary artery disease
- Dyslipidemia
- Type 2 diabetes
- Gallbladder disease
- Hypertension
- Osteoarthritis
- Sleep apnea
- Stroke
- infertility
- At the minimum 10 cancers, comprising endometrial, breast, and colon cancer.
- Epidural lipomatosis
Those individuals who have never smoked, overweight/obesity are connected with 51% raise in mortality in comparison with individuals who have constantly been on a normal weight.
How to calculate BMI?
To calculate BMI, an individual is needed to have two values:
- An individual height in meters
- His weight in kilograms.
If the height is in inches, weight should be in pounds.
The formula to calculate BMI is as follows:
BMI = weight in kilograms / (height in meters) 2
Or
BMI = weight in pounds / (height in inches) 2 X 703 (if pounds and inches are used, a conversion factor of 703 must be applied).