Medical use of bmi.

[Pegasus AdministratorPE Gym EditorPEGym Hero ☺ Admin of the Month Mar 2015 Find all posts View Profile Close Pegasus]

I have noticed that medical people have a hard on for bmi . I understand about death rates being higher for bmi over 25 but is there some reason they ignore muscle mass and the actual fat % even in the case where there is dexa info?

[Qandisa Senior Member Member of the Month March 2016 Find all posts View Profile Close Qandisa]

I thought that they were starting to move away from BMI for those exact reasons?

[Toadstool Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toadstool]

I didn't realize the medical community had a hard on for BMI. I thought it was just one of many ways to measure health risk.

[Pegasus AdministratorPE Gym EditorPEGym Hero ☺ Admin of the Month Mar 2015 Find all posts View Profile Close Pegasus]

Why use bmi instead of dexa info ? I had thought they were moving away from it but recent experiences showed otherwise.

[Toadstool Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toadstool]

Oh, so you have your dexa info, and they're ignoring it, looking only at your BMI?

[Floppy and Useless Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Floppy and Useless]

The usual BMI calculation has been proven rather inaccurate in the last few years and an adjusted equation had been proposed, but setting this as the new standard all over hasn't been a priority due to pretty much the uselessness of BMI. The only case where its useful is proving to someone they are way, way over weight. So don't take BMI too seriously.

[TheGreatDivider Senior Member Member of the Month Dec 2015 Find all posts View Profile Close TheGreatDivider]

I have noticed that medical people have a hard on for bmi . I understand about death rates being higher for bmi over 25 but is there some reason they ignore muscle mass and the actual fat % even in the case where there is dexa info?

Two reasons, cost and time. It doesn't take an expensive machine or require lots of training to use a scale and a tape measurer on someone. All doctors are looking for us a line to fill in on a chart, in order to assess your symptoms. BMI fits the bill being highly inaccurate but incredibly safe any easy to use.

[Pegasus AdministratorPE Gym EditorPEGym Hero ☺ Admin of the Month Mar 2015 Find all posts View Profile Close Pegasus]

Oh, so you have your dexa info, and they're ignoring it, looking only at your BMI?

Yes. The doc isn't too bad and did look somewhat convinced yeah you do have some muscle type stuff . The dietican was not interested and told me I was borderline obese .

[Pegasus AdministratorPE Gym EditorPEGym Hero ☺ Admin of the Month Mar 2015 Find all posts View Profile Close Pegasus]

Two reasons, cost and time. It doesn't take an expensive machine or require lots of training to use a scale and a tape measurer on someone. All doctors are looking for us a line to fill in on a chart, in order to assess your symptoms. BMI fits the bill being highly inaccurate but incredibly safe any easy to use.

Yes but if you are standing there with dexa results why ignore it ? For that matter if a guy obviously is carrying more muscle than average and you are a medical pro shouldn't you notice( to be fair some do) ?

[Pegasus AdministratorPE Gym EditorPEGym Hero ☺ Admin of the Month Mar 2015 Find all posts View Profile Close Pegasus]

The usual BMI calculation has been proven rather inaccurate in the last few years and an adjusted equation had been proposed, but setting this as the new standard all over hasn't been a priority due to pretty much the uselessness of BMI. The only case where its useful is proving to someone they are way, way over weight. So don't take BMI too seriously.

The basic premise of bmi is false .

[TheGreatDivider Senior Member Member of the Month Dec 2015 Find all posts View Profile Close TheGreatDivider]

Yes but if you are standing there with dexa results why ignore it ? For that matter if a guy obviously is carrying more muscle than average and you are a medical pro shouldn't you notice( to be fair some do) ?

Think about the cost involved there. Hospitals aren't going to buy a million dollar machine to be used hundreds of times a day, that requires lots of upkeep, and costs each patient a few hundred dollars just to know your exact body fat percentage. It's just not cost effective.

Hospitals have dexa machines but the only use them for bone density scans.

[TheGreatDivider Senior Member Member of the Month Dec 2015 Find all posts View Profile Close TheGreatDivider]

Now if I could opt out if BMI and have insurance pay for a dexa scan.... I'd be willing to go for that.

[Pegasus AdministratorPE Gym EditorPEGym Hero ☺ Admin of the Month Mar 2015 Find all posts View Profile Close Pegasus]

Think about the cost involved there. Hospitals aren't going to buy a million dollar machine to be used hundreds of times a day, that requires lots of upkeep, and costs each patient a few hundred dollars just to know your exact body fat percentage. It's just not cost effective.

Hospitals have dexa machines but the only use them for bone density scans.

Dexa has got a lot cheaper less than $100 Australian so that is less than $75 US .
I paid for the dexa so there was no cost to the medical people.

[Pegasus AdministratorPE Gym EditorPEGym Hero ☺ Admin of the Month Mar 2015 Find all posts View Profile Close Pegasus]

By the way working on a false premise that a guy is way overweight when he is not could cost a lot.

[TheGreatDivider Senior Member Member of the Month Dec 2015 Find all posts View Profile Close TheGreatDivider]

Wait a minute, I just thought about it and realized 99% of patients in hospitals don't care about the accuracy of their body fat tests. Hospitals aren't where healthy people worry about how much fat and muscle they carry, they're where the sick and injured get diagnosed, operated on, treated, and die.