Body Mass Index

When conducting a health assessment, providers have several tools available to help them to assess a patient’s overall well-being and help predict risk factors that may lead to poor health. Since obesity is a growing concern and public health issue that plagues providers, a patient’s weight should be assessed, recorded, and tracked at every visit. Research shows that Obesity and being overweight are related to multiple comorbidities and increased mortality (Friele et al., 2018). Primary care providers often see the patient first (before a specialist or other provider) and have the opportunity to assess for many potential health risks, such as obesity. How does a provider determine if a patient’s weight is a potential risk factor? Body mass index is the most common and accessible way to analyze a patient’s weight. Body mass index (BMI) is an assessment tool used in healthcare to evaluate a patient’s total body fat and predict risk factors associated with obesity (Ball et al., 2018)