Which statement is true regarding BMI evaluation in preadolescent and early-adolescent athletes?

• A. They should not have BMI evaluated routinely
• B. BMI should be evaluated routinely using adult cutoffs
• C. BMI is not applicable to athletes
• D. BMI should be measured only during off-season

Answer: (A)

The main idea here is that BMI screening in growing athletes isn’t appropriate as a routine practice. In preadolescents and early adolescents, body size and composition change a lot as they grow and go through puberty, and many athletes develop more muscle mass. That extra lean mass can raise BMI even when body fat is not high, so BMI doesn’t accurately reflect adiposity in young athletes. Using adult BMI cutoffs is also inappropriate because children and teens require age- and sex-specific percentiles to interpret BMI, and those pediatric norms don’t translate to adults. Because of these factors, routinely measuring BMI in young athletes can lead to misclassification and unnecessary concern. In practice, growth and development should be monitored with appropriate pediatric growth charts and more direct assessments of body composition or health risk only when indicated, rather than as a standard screening.