The ideal weight of an adult person is calculated on the basis of?

NCL (MP) Nursing Officer - 2019

Applied Nutrition & Dietetics

Easy

Appeared in: NCL (MP) Nursing Officer - 2019

Explanation

The calculation of an adult's ideal body weight (IBW) and Body Mass Index (BMI) is fundamentally based on their height.
Standard formulas, such as the Devine, Robinson, and Hamwi formulas, all use height as the primary variable to estimate a healthy weight range.
BMI, a universally used index for weight status, is calculated by dividing weight by the square of the height (Weight/Height²).
As per nutritional guidelines, a 'Reference Adult' is defined with a specific height and a corresponding healthy weight and BMI, reinforcing the link between height and ideal weight.

Option A: While energy requirements and body composition change with age, standard formulas for calculating an adult's ideal weight do not use age as a direct input variable.
Option C: Economic status is a social determinant of health that can influence a person's actual weight through factors like food security and access to healthcare, but it is not a physiological parameter used to calculate their ideal weight.
Option D: This option is incorrect because two of the other factors, Age and Economic status, are not used in the direct calculation of an adult's ideal body weight.

Clinical Relevance

Nursing practice connection: This is primarily an exam-oriented knowledge point with limited direct bedside application, so retain Calculation of Ideal Body Weight (IBW) and Body Mass Index (BMI) as background academic context rather than a clinical decision trigger.
Nurses use IBW and BMI for nutritional screening to identify patients who are underweight, overweight, or obese and may be at risk for related health complications.
These calculations are crucial for determining appropriate medication dosages for certain drugs, especially in chemotherapy and anesthesiology, where dosing is based on body size.
What if the patient was a child? If the patient were a child, the nurse would use age- and sex-specific growth charts (like weight-for-age, height-for-age, and BMI-for-age percentiles) instead of adult IBW formulas, as growth is a dynamic process in childhood.

How to Approach the Question

First, identify the core concept of the question, which is the basis for calculating 'ideal weight'.
Recall the most common methods used in healthcare to assess weight status, such as Body Mass Index (BMI) and Ideal Body Weight (IBW) formulas.
Analyze the variables used in these formulas. You'll remember that BMI is weight divided by height squared, and IBW formulas (like Devine's) start with a baseline weight for a 5-foot person and add weight for each additional inch of height.
Evaluate the given options. 'Height' is a constant variable in all these calculations.
Eliminate the other options. 'Age' is used for children's growth charts but not adult IBW. 'Economic' status is a social factor, not a physiological one for this calculation.
Conclude that 'Height' is the correct basis for the calculation.

Concept Tested & Keywords

Concept Tested: Calculation of Ideal Body Weight (IBW) and Body Mass Index (BMI)
Stem keywords: ideal weight, adult, calculated
Lead-in keywords: on the basis of

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E6 Parks TextBook of Preventive & Social Medicine part 2 — Subpart A (pp 1-232 of 464) p. 167-169