Dicom as a Body Mass Index (BMI) Calculator

BMI Definition

Body mass index (BMI) is a measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to both adult men and women. BMI is always expressed in kilogram per square meter and therefore often left out. Dicom treat BMI as an unitless index.

For details see also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_mass_index

BMI Categories

Underweight: BMI < 18.5
Normal weight: BMI >= 18.5 and < 25.0
Overweight: BMI >= 25.0 and < 30.0
Obesity: BMI >= 30.0

Dicom BMI Function

BodyMass( height[m] [, weight[kg] ] )

• The BodyMass function takes two parameters: height and weight.
• Units are optional. If you don't want to mention the units, you should enter height figure in meter and weight figure in kilogram.
• If you want to specify units you can do so in whatever unit you feel is convenient.
• The function returns unitless BMI when you specify both height and weight.
• However, the weight parameter is optional and if you omit this, the BMI function returns ideal weight (assuming a BMI of 24) and the return value is associated with the unit of weight.

BMI Calculation Example

You can try each of the following statement in Dicom calculator:

BodyMass(6 ft, 70 kg)
BodyMass(6 ft, 150 lb)
BodyMass(5 ft 9 inch, 60 kg 750 g)
BodyMass(6 ft) to lb
BodyMass(6 ft) to kg
BodyMass(1.8, 70)

Alternately you can cut and paste the following code in the Dicom document and then press F8 to execute.

['BodyMass(6 ft, 70 kg)']
['BodyMass(6 ft, 150 lb)']
['BodyMass(5 ft 9 inch, 60 kg 750 g)']
['BodyMass(6 ft) to lb']
['BodyMass(6 ft) to kg']
['BodyMass(1.8, 70)']

The result will be as below:

BodyMass(6 ft, 70 kg) = 20.9298258102689
BodyMass(6 ft, 150 lb) = 20.3434498304182
BodyMass(5 ft 9 inch, 60 kg 750 g) = 19.7779223535763
BodyMass(6 ft) to lb = 176.961136385883 lb.
BodyMass(6 ft) to kg = 80.26822656 kg.
BodyMass(1.8, 70) = 21.6049382716049

Dicom unit conversion calculator is available here for free download.