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. 2026 Mar 19.
doi: 10.17269/s41997-026-01181-2. Online ahead of print.

Growth charts for grown-ups? BMI-for-age percentile curves to measure obesity status: An analysis of data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging

Claire E Cook  1 , Chris Kim  1 , Jasmine M Y Yu  1 , Hailey R Banack  2
Affiliations

Growth charts for grown-ups? BMI-for-age percentile curves to measure obesity status: An analysis of data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging

Claire E Cook et al. Can J Public Health. .

Abstract
in English, French

Body Mass Index (BMI; kg/m2) is a widely used anthropometric indicator of obesity in epidemiologic and public health research. Recent clinical guidelines no longer support the use of BMI as a diagnostic measure of obesity, recommending instead that it be reserved for screening, surveillance, and research purposes. In this Commentary, we describe key challenges related to the use of BMI in public health research and highlight the use of BMI-for-age percentiles for older adults as an approach to address these challenges. We argue that BMI can, and should, continue to be considered as a measure of obesity status in public health research on older adults using sex-stratified BMI-for-age percentiles. We demonstrate this concept by providing evidence from an analysis examining the association between obesity and cardiometabolic risk among adults in Canada using data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA).

RéSUMé: L'indice de masse corporelle (IMC; kg/m2) est un indicateur anthropométrique largement utilisé pour mesurer l'obésité dans les recherches épidémiologiques et de santé publique. Les récentesdirectives cliniques ne soutiennent plus l'utilisation de l'IMC comme mesure diagnostique de l'obésité, recommandant plutôt de le réserver à des fins de dépistage, de surveillance et derecherche. Dans ce commentaire, nous décrivons les principaux défis liés à l'utilisation de l'IMC dans la recherche en santé publique et soulignons l'utilisation des percentiles d'IMC pour l'âgechez les personnes âgées comme approche pour relever ces défis. Nous soutenons que l'IMC peut et doit continuer à être considéré comme une mesure de l'obésité dans la recherche en santé publique sur les personnes âgées, en utilisant des percentiles d'IMC pour l'âge stratifiés selon le sexe. Nous démontrons ce concept en fournissant des preuves issues d'une analyse examinant l'association entre l'obésité et le risque cardiométabolique chez les adultes au Canada, à partir des données de l'Étude longitudinale canadienne sur le vieillissement (ELCV).

Keywords: BMI; CLSA; Obesity.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this manuscript are the author’s own and do not reflect the views of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.

References

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