Body Surface Area

References and formulas used by the Body

Surface Area Calculator.

Formulas for Body Surface Area.

The Mosteller¹ formula

BSA (m²) = ( [Height(cm) x Weight(kg) ]/ 3600 )½ e.g. BSA =
SQRT( (cm*kg)/3600 )

or in inches and pounds: BSA (m²) = ( [Height(in) x Weight(lbs) ]/

3131 )½

The DuBois and DuBois² formula

BSA (m²) = 0.20247 x Height(m)0.725 x Weight(kg)0.425

A variation of DuBois and DuBois15 thats gives virtually identical results is:

BSA (m²) = 0.007184 x Height(cm)0.725 x Weight(kg)0.425

The Haycock³ formula

BSA (m²) = 0.024265 x Height(cm)0.3964 x Weight(kg)0.5378

The Gehan and George4 formula

BSA (m²) = 0.0235 x Height(cm)0.42246 x Weight(kg)0.51456

The Boyd formula5

BSA (m2) = 0.0003207 x Height(cm)0.3 x Weight(grams)(0.7285 - ( 0.0188 x
LOG(grams) )

The Mosteller formula is recommended6. To learn more about the

issues and differences in BSA formulas, read the BSA standards
report by Thanh Vu B.Sc(pharm). It explains why the Mosteller formula
was adopted for use by the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee of
the Cross Cancer Institute, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Formulas for Lean Body Weight & Ideal Body Weight
Lean Body Weight (men) = (1.10 x Weight(kg)) - 128 ( Weight2/(100 x Height(m))2)
Lean Body Weight (women) = (1.07 x Weight(kg)) - 148 ( Weight2/(100 x
Height(m))2)

click here for more information about Lean Body Weight.

Ideal Body Weight (men) = 50 + 2.3 ( Height(in) - 60 ) ( Devine formula)

Ideal Body Weight (women) = 45.5 + 2.3 ( Height(in) - 60 ) (Robinson formula)

click here for more information about Ideal Weight formulas.

Formula for Body Mass Index.

Body Mass Index = Weight(kg) / Height(m)2

Definitions of "overweight".

A Body Mass Index between 25 and 29.9 is "overweight", greater than

or equal to 30 is "obese"7. However, some very muscular people can
have high Body Mass Indexes and in adolescents, BMIs frequently result
in overestimation of fatness. A better classification8 of "overweight" is
given in this table below. These numbers are used in the BSA calculator.

Women Men
underweight <19.1 <20.7
19.1- 20.7-
ideal weight
25.8 26.4
marginally 25.8- 26.4-
overweight 27.3 27.8
27.3- 27.8-
overweight
32.3 31.1
very overweight or
>32.3 >31.1
obese

Weight Percentile, and Height Percentile, compared to the

population.
An adult whose weight is at the 50th percentile, is at the average weight
of the population. An adult at the 90th percentile is quite heavy.

The oldest version of the calculator used weight data from a study9 of
3992 consecutive adult cancer patients who underwent CT
scanning. That study did not stratify males versus females, and it did
not include pediatrics. By using the variance distribution from that
study, and then adjusting the means to 79.4kg for males and 64.5kg for
females, it was able to estimate the weight percentile. The height data
came from a study10 of 600 randomly selected cancer patients. That
study also did not stratify males versus females, and it did not include
pediatrics. By using the variance distribution from that study, and then
adjusting the means to 69 inches for males and 64 inches for females,
the older calculator was able to estimate the height percentile.

The next version of the calculator used better data. Pediatric data was
derived from standard pediatric growth charts, based on American 1979
data13. Adult data for median height and weight came from Canadian
1997 data11. The variances for height and weight and the weight for
height data comes from Canadian 1971 data12. Americans tend to be a
little taller and heavier than Canadians.

The most recent version of the calculator has switched to using

exclusively American data from the NHANES III survey14 of 1988 to
1994. This data is used for the height and weight percentiles algorithm.
It incorporates both adults and children's data of heights and weights,
the median (average) values and the variances (the range of fatness -
thinness). Keep this in mind, that American's tend to be taller and
heavier than many other nationalities.

References

1. Mosteller RD: Simplified Calculation of Body Surface Area. N Engl J Med 1987
Oct 22;317(17):1098 (letter)
2. DuBois D; DuBois EF: A formula to estimate the approximate surface area if height
and weight be known. Arch Int Med 1916 17:863-71.
 3. Haycock G.B., Schwartz G.J.,Wisotsky D.H. Geometric method for measuring
body surface area: A height weight formula validated in infants, children and
adults. The Journal of Pediatrics 1978 93:1:62-66
4. Gehan EA, George SL, Estimation of human body surface area from height and
weight. Cancer Chemother Rep 1970 54:225-35.
5. Boyd E, The growth of the surface area of the human body. Minneapolis: university
of Minnesota Press, 1935. (I never found the original source. Instead, I copied the
formula from: http://www.ispub.com/journals/IJA/Vol2N2/bsa.htm )
6. Lam TK, Leung DT: More on simplified calculation of body-surface area. N Engl J
Med 1988 Apr 28;318(17):1130, (letter)
7. Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight
and Obesity in Adults. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. June 17, 1998
8. Understanding Nutrition, by Whitney and Rolfes.
9. Halls SB. Weight distribution of 3992 adult cancer patients referred for CT scans.
May 1999. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
10. Halls SB. Heights & Weights of 600 adult cancer patients. May 1999. Edmonton,
Alberta, Canada.
11. National Population Health Survey 1996/1997. (Canadian data n=77,403 age &
sex stratified.)
12. Nutrition Canada, Anthropometry Report 1980 of data from Nutrition-Canada
Survey 1971. (n=13,691)
13. Pediatric growth charts, from Ross Laboratories. Adapted from Hamill PVV, Drizd
TA TA, Johnson CL, Reed RB, Roche AF, Moore WM. Physical growth: National
Center for Health statistics percentiles. Am J Clin Nutr 32: 607-629, 1979.
14. NHANES III. 1988-1994 data from USA.
15. Wang Y, Moss J, Thisted R. Predictors of body surface area. J Clin Anesth. 1992;
4(1):4-10.

Return to the Body Surface Area calculator. Last edited 24-May-2008

Reference : http://www.halls.md/body-surface-area/refs.htm