Body mass index was originally designed as a statistical tool for public health research. When we need to know whether obesity is the cause of a disease, we can convert the patient's height and weight into body mass index, and then find out whether there is a linear relationship between this value and the incidence.
Body mass index is an indicator of overall nutritional status. In the past, it was used as an index of obesity, because it was found that body mass index and body fat were highly correlated statistically, but under the same body mass index, the body fat rate would still be different.
Extended data
World obesity standard
The world standard of obesity is that the body mass index is in the normal range of 18.5 to 24.9, the body mass index greater than 25 is overweight, and the body mass index greater than 30 is obese.
According to the situation of different countries, the critical value of overweight fluctuates between 22 and 25, and the critical value of obesity fluctuates between 26-3 1. For example, in Singapore, the overweight standard is above 23 and the obesity standard is above 27.5. However, in order to facilitate statistics and comparison, the World Health Organization recommends that countries report statistical data according to the world average standards.
Experts in China believe that although China people belong to Asian race, the upper limit of the normal range of body mass index should be lower than the Asian standard. Some experts suggest that the best value of China people's body mass index should be 20-22, with a body mass index greater than 22.6 as overweight and a body mass index greater than 30 as obesity.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Body Mass Index