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Why reporting change in BMI?
Submit responseIn their meta-analysis Dansinger et al report on the change in BMI achieved by dietary counseling. I am still trying to find a reasonable explanation as to why the authors chose this endpoint rather than absolute weight loss or percentage of excess weight loss. I adults, the height is expected to be constant. In fact, in many studies the height is only measured at the initial visit so by definition will be constant. If studies measure the height at every visit this will only introduce an error based on itraindividual variability. I do not question the value of BMI measurement for classification of nutritional status and for risk assessment but why report BMI changes when the title of the meta-analysis is effect in WEIGHT loss? As a clinician I understood that the article was going to tell my if dietary counseling works? and if so how much WEIGHT loss should I expect? The article did not provide a clear answer.
Conflict of Interest:
None declared