ArticleThe British journal of nutrition2020
Distance and percentage distance from median BMI as alternatives to BMI
Article in The British journal of nutrition, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers.
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Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 49 citations in OpenAlex.
- Training in motivational interviewing for pediatricians was associated with a higher uptake of health behavior and lifestyle treatment: Results from the KP Wellness Coaching for Families and Kids (WC4K) Program.Patient education and counseling · 2025Trial
- Parenting Training Plus Behavioral Treatment for Children With Obesity: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2025Trial
- Guided Self-Help vs Group Treatment for Children With Obesity: A Randomized Clinical Trial.Pediatrics · 2025Trial
- A randomized controlled trial examining general parenting training and family-based behavioral treatment for childhood obesity: The ReFRESH study design.Contemporary clinical trials · 2024Trial
- Outcome of BMI2+: Motivational Interviewing to Reduce BMI Through Primary Care AAP PROS Practices.Pediatrics · 2024Trial
- Longitudinal Examination of Hair Cortisol Concentrations and Weight Changes in Preschool-Aged Children of Latino Farmworkers.Childhood obesity (Print) · 2023Trial
- The Families and Schools for Health Project: A Longitudinal Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial Targeting Children with Overweight and Obesity.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Trial
- A community-based, multi-level, multi-setting, multi-component intervention to reduce weight gain among low socioeconomic status Latinx children with overweight or obesity: The Stanford GOALS randomised controlled trial.The lancet. Diabetes & endocrinology · 2021Trial
- Transforming percentage of median body mass index (%mBMI) scores into corresponding BMI z-scores yields discrepancies for age and sex: implications for pediatric eating disorder researchers and clinicians.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Article
- Nonlinear associations between body mass index and brain microstructure across adolescence in the ABCD Study.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Motivational Interviewing-Based Wellness Coaching for Kids and Families (WC4K) Program in Pediatric Obesity Care: Protocol for a Cluster Randomized Pragmatic Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- Income-based inequalities in risk factors of NCDs and inequities of preventive care services amongst 202,682 adults: a cross-sectional study of South Asia Biobank.BMC medicine · 2025Article
- Protocol for a randomized controlled dose response trial to combat accelerated summer BMI gain in children: The Determining the Optimal amount of Structured Environments (DOSE) study.Contemporary clinical trials · 2025Article
- Interplay between preclinical indices of obesity and neural signatures of fluid intelligence in youth.Communications biology · 2024Article
- Advantages and Limitations of the Body Mass Index (BMI) to Assess Adult Obesity.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Review
- The relationship between weight-adjusted-waist index and suicidal ideation: evidence from NHANES.Eating and weight disorders : EWD · 2024Article
- Effect of a family-based lifestyle intervention on weight reduction among Jordanian children with obesity aged 6-9 years.Food & nutrition research · 2024Article
- Feasibility and preliminary efficacy of structured programming and a parent intervention to mitigate accelerated summer BMI gain: a pilot study.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2023Article
- Association of High Normal Body Weight in Youths With Risk of Hypertension.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
BMI z (BMIz) score based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention growth charts is widely used, but it is inaccurate above the 97th percentile. We explored the performance of alternative metrics based on the absolute distance or % distance of a child's BMI from the median BMI for sex and age. We used longitudinal data from 5628 children who were first examined <12 years to compare the tracking of three BMI metrics: distance from median, % distance from median and % distance from median on a log scale. We also explored the effects of adjusting these metrics for age differences in the distribution of BMI. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to compare tracking of the metrics. Metrics based on % distance (whether on the original or log scale) yielded higher ICCs compared with distance from median. The ICCs of the age-adjusted metrics were higher than that of the unadjusted metrics, particularly among children who were (1) overweight or had obesity, (2) younger and (3) followed for >3 years. The ICCs of the age-adjusted metrics were also higher compared with that of BMIz among children who were overweight or obese. Unlike BMIz, these alternative metrics do not have an upper limit and can be used for assessing BMI in all children, even those with very high BMIs. The age-adjusted % from median (on a log or linear scale) works well for all ages, while unadjusted % from median is better limited to older children or short follow-up periods.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.