Body mass index reference curves for the UK, 1990.

TLDR

Stature and weight reference curves have long existed for British children, but weight alone poorly reflects adiposity, and until recently no weight‑for‑height (BMI) curves were available, despite BMI’s established use in adults. This study presents centile curves for BMI in British children from birth to 23 years, derived from the same large representative sample used for stature and weight updates. The curves were generated with Cole’s LMS method, adjusting for skewness to provide exact centiles or SD scores, and nine centiles were supplied to identify the thinnest and fattest 0.4 % of the population.

Abstract

Reference curves for stature and weight in British children have been available for the past 30 years, and have recently been updated. However weight by itself is a poor indicator of fatness or obesity, and there has never been a corresponding set of reference curves to assess weight for height. Body mass index (BMI) or weight/height has been popular for assessing obesity in adults for many years, but its use in children has developed only recently. Here centile curves for BMI in British children are presented, from birth to 23 years, based on the same large representative sample as used to update the stature and weight references. The charts were derived using Cole9s LMS method, which adjusts the BMI distribution for skewness and allows BMI in individual subjects to be expressed as an exact centile or SD score. Use of the charts in clinical practice is aided by the provision of nine centiles, where the two extremes identify the fattest and thinnest four per 1000 of the population.