(Eagle News) — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released on Thursday new Body Mass Index (BMI) charts to include children with very high BMI values.

The expansion is due to a steady increase of children in the U.S. who suffer from obesity and severe obesity.

According to the CDC, more than 4.5 million children and adolescents were considered as having severe obesity in 2018.

The 2000 BMI-for-age growth charts, based on data from 1963-1980, do not extend beyond the 97th percentile. Because of the prevalence of childhood obesity, health authorities were forced to develop new percentiles to monitor very high BMI values.

“Prior to today’s release, the growth charts did not extend high enough to plot BMI for the increasing number of children with severe obesity,” said Dr. Karen Hacker, director of the CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.

Body Mass Index is a mathematical formula that measures body fat and is generally calculated by dividing a person’s height by the person’s weight.

The previous BMI charts for children did not go beyond a BMI of 37. The newly release charts have been expanded to include children with a BMI of 60.

The CDC said the extended charts will help health-care workers and families to treat children suffering from obesity.

(Eagle News Service)