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BMI Reporting

BMI stands for Body Mass Index, which is calculated by dividing weight in kilograms by height in meters squared. Many schools weigh children annually or in certain grades. In 2004, Arkansas became the first state to send school children home with “Health Reports,” which formally notify parents in writing of their child’s weight.

Since then, 20 other states have either passed or begun to consider bills to institute Health Reports. But in a clear demonstration of the debate over this issue, Arkansas scaled back its program in 2007 – a change opposed by the state’s former governor, Mike Huckabee, who had drawn national attention with his actions on obesity issues. Here’s a look at the pros and cons of Health Reports:

Pros

  1. The report cards serve as a wake-up call for the parents of overweight children, some of whom may not know about the health conditions associated with childhood obesity. Health Reports may also motivate parents to foster a healthier home environment by cooking more nutritious meals and encouraging children to be more physically active.
  2. Generating greater body awareness could prompt children to eat more nutritiously, get more exercise, and value a healthy lifestyle.
  3. In some instances, Arkansas pediatricians gained new patients after the Health Reports were issued.
  4. The pandemic of child obesity is too great to ignore, and any remedy is worth trying, even if it’s experimental and slightly flawed.

Cons

  1. Health Reports can hurt children’s self esteem and self-confidence.
  2. Health Reports may raise children’s risk of developing anxiety over physical appearance, obsession with food and weight, and, in extreme cases, eating disorder symptoms.
  3. Children might be mocked or bullied by peers for having an out-of-ordinary “score.”
  4. The BMI measure does not take into account muscle mass, meaning that some children with high BMI’s are not clinically overweight. In this way, the BMI assessment can be misconstrued and misused.

Our View

Whether BMI Reporting are useful remains an empirical question. We need research to test whether, and under what circumstances, parental notification of a child’s BMI is helpful. We also need research to identify how to reap the potential benefits without causing harm.