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Relevance of a standard measurement of undernutrition to the diagnosis of anorexia nervosa: Use of Quetelet's Body Mass Index (BMI)
Author(s) -
Beumont Peter,
AlAlami Masab,
Touyz Stephen
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
international journal of eating disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.785
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1098-108X
pISSN - 0276-3478
DOI - 10.1002/1098-108x(198805)7:3<399::aid-eat2260070312>3.0.co;2-r
Subject(s) - anorexia nervosa , body mass index , malnutrition , psychology , normative , value (mathematics) , index (typography) , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , medicine , eating disorders , endocrinology , statistics , philosophy , mathematics , epistemology , world wide web , computer science
Quetelet's Index provides a measure of nutritional status which is both objective and easy to calculate. A review of the normative data published in the literature indicates that a BMI value of 16 provides a convenient criterion for the recognition of significant undernutrition. This value was applied successfully to a group of 150 anorexia nervosa patients. On the other hand, a BMI of over 18 appeared appropriate in the case of a small group of 22 bulimia nervosa subjects.