'My fit, active 11-year-old was labelled overweight by NHS after measurement at schoo

[Northerner]

A mum is furious that her "fit and active" son has been labelled 'overweight' by the NHS.

Coralyn Hobbs, 35, insists her son, 11-year-old William Barnes-Hobbs, is not overweight and says it is "disgraceful" that children are being categorised by how much they weigh.

William, a pupil at Ely St Mary's Junior School, had his weight and height measured at school as part of Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust's National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP).

At the time he was measured, which was on February 3, he weighed 43.5kg and was 144.4cm tall, which, according to the programme, makes him 'overweight'.

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/fit...erweight-NHS/story-25998044-detail/story.html

 

[trophywench]

I really don't think they actually know the difference between muscle and flab myself - not even for adults.

 

[Andy HB]

Eh?

His BMI comes out at 20.9 based on those figures. That isn't even overweight, unless there is some other measure for children.

Andy

 

[HOBIE]

Is it written on chip shop paper ?

 

[Northerner]

Eh?

His BMI comes out at 20.9 based on those figures. That isn't even overweight, unless there is some other measure for children.

Andy

Yes, it is different, but in this case it is really marginal. I entered his details (guessed a DOB) and it comes out as 20.9, but this puts him in the 85th percentile i.e overweight. However, if it had come out at the 84th percentile then he wouldn't be! 🙄

http://nccd.cdc.gov/dnpabmi/Result....15&age=140&ht=144.4&wt=43.5&gender=1&method=1

 

[Andy HB]

Yes, it is different, but in this case it is really marginal. I entered his details (guessed a DOB) and it comes out as 20.9, but this puts him in the 85th percentile i.e overweight. However, if it had come out at the 84th percentile then he wouldn't be! 🙄

http://nccd.cdc.gov/dnpabmi/Result....15&age=140&ht=144.4&wt=43.5&gender=1&method=1

Thanks for that Alan.

The way I also read those results is that if all the other kids in the country put on weight and he stays the same, then he will eventually no longer be considered overweight.

Daft!

 

[banjo]

BMI is bonkers - says that i am health if im slightly under 9 and a half stone - 6ft1 muscled bloke lol -

 

[KookyCat]

They know BMI doesn't work for lots of categories of people. People with a lot of muscle mass, tall women, very tall men amongst others. My nephew is classed as overweight because he's six foot, athletic and 15. I was classed as overweight when 11 at 5'11 and 8 stone because well children aren't 5'11 are they. On the adult measure I would have been underweight. I'm now classed as just in the ideal range and yet you can see every rib and hip bone. It assumes a certain percentage split between muscle and fat so it's never going to be a great measure for some of us, they should take it with a pinch of salt I feel, but be very careful about how much weight (no pun intended) they give these measures when talking to parents. When I was 11 I was given pills to quell my appetite 😱