Periodically on here, the subject of body-mass-index comes up. Occasionally I have tried to find the initial reference for this index and now I think that I have found a citation that may lead to it, should someone have access to this journal. The citation is: Garrow, JS and Webster, J. "Quetelet's Index (W/H2) as a measure of fatness." International Journal of Obesity 1985; 9, 147-153. It may refer to the initial source of the method; this is the first time I've seen it referred to as something other (Quetelet's Index) than BMI. I obtained this from the web pages of the National Center for Health Statistics, specifically, http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/bmi/bmi-adult.htm Here, by the way, you will find BMI formulae, online calculators, and tables in "English" [sic] and metric units. Also, in the past we have had energetic discussions about whether the BMI was unitless, some asserting it was because it was an "index". However, at least one paper, http://www.monash.edu.au/APJCN/Vol6/Num2/62p84.htm provides units for it: "...where a value equal or greater than 25kg/m2 was considered overweight." Jim -- Metric Methods(SM) "Don't be late to metricate!" James R. Frysinger, CAMS http://www.metricmethods.com/ 10 Captiva Row e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Charleston, SC 29407 phone/FAX: 843.225.6789
