Clinical Guidelines Updated for Obesity Screening

June 29th, 2012

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) is now recommending clinicians screen adults for obesity and offer or refer patients with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m² or higher to intensive, multicomponent behavioral interventions.

BMI is calculated from the measured weight and height of an individual.

BMI = weight in pounds ÷ height in inches² x 703

For example: A patient weighs 176 pounds and is 5’4″ tall. Divide 176 by 4096 (64 x 64) and then multiply by 703 to get a BMI of 30.2, which is considered obese.

The USPSTF guideline, “Screening for and Management of Obesity in Adults: U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement,” was published June 26 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.


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One Response to Clinical Guidelines Updated for Obesity Screening

  1. Aylin Says:
    August 14th, 2012 at 8:32 pm

    scooby,Psychosis is a distortion of reltiay–I am joking, of course when I use it here–my point is just that no matter what the doctors say, I look for signs that they are just giving me the party line and not telling me how bad my situation is. The truth is, none of us really know how bad our situation is. We can be sick and live to 80 or be really healthy and die early–but you are correct in that some of the fear is justified and rational. Anyone who already has a chronic illness is at higher risk of complications than those who are low risk.

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