Indicators of Nutritional Status in Youth
Overweight > 95th percentile of BMI-for-age
Risk of overweight > 85th to < 95th percentile
Notes:
“Overweight” rather than obesity is the term preferred for describing infants or children greater than or equal to the 95th percentile of weight-for-length or BMI-for-age. The 85th percentile is included on the BMI-for-age and the weight-for-stature charts. Expert committees have indicated that children and adolescents aged 2 to 20 years between the 85th and 95th percentiles are at risk of being overweight.
Evaluating a child’s pattern of growth over time is more important than a single measure of size. The pattern of growth is based on periodic measurements which are tracked on a percentile line as a child grows.