Renal function for instance is measured by gfr relative to the body surface area. Various body surface area formulas have been developed over the years originally by drs du bois du bois followed by gehan and george haycock boyd and mosteller. The body surface area formula. Nevertheless there have been several important critiques of the use of bsa in determining the dosage of medications with a narrow therapeutic index such as chemotherapy. Average body surface area for adult men. Below are the body surface area formula by drs mosteller dubois and dubois haycock and boyd.
Typically there is a 410 fold variation in drug clearance between. The result is in squared meters which easily be converted to square feet inches or yards as needed. A height weight formula validated in infants children and adults. An adult who has been burned the percent of the body involved can be calculated as follows. Estimating body surface area bsa to estimate your body surface area our bsa calculator uses the following formula 1. Body surface area calculator the calculator below computes the total surface area of a human body referred to as body surface area bsa.
The body surface area is used for numerous medical measures including medication calculation and the amount of fluids administered iv. In physiology and medicine the body surface area is the measured or calculated surface area of a human body. You can estimate the body surface area on an adult that has been burned by using multiples of 9. Where height is in meters and mass is in kg. For many clinical purposes bsa is a better indicator of metabolic mass than body weight because it is less affected by abnormal adipose mass. The mosteller formula 1 bsa m2 sqrt height cm x weight kg 3600 eg.
Other influential factors include the age and gender of the individual. 020247 x height m0725 x mass kg0425. Average body surface area for adult women. As an example if both legs 18 x 2 36 the groin 1 and the front chest and abdomen were burned this would involve 55 of the body. Geometric method for measuring body surface area. These formulas all give slightly different results.
Other medical measures are used for the bsa. The normal body surface area is generally taken to be 17 m2 but in actual fact the body surface area depends on more than just height and weight. Bsa is a measurement used in many medical tasks. Body mass index bmi and body surface area bsa calculates body mass index and body surface area. The journal of pediatrics 1978 93162 66. Direct measurement of bsa is difficult and as such many formulas have been published that estimate bsa.
The calculator below provides results for some of the most popular formulas. Estimation of human body surface area from height and weight. Bsa sqrt cmkg3600. Cancer chemother rep 1970 54225 35. Gehan ea george sl. The growth of the surface area of the human body.