Whether you're 6 months old or 60 years old, your doctor's appointments will probably start the same way --- with measurement of your current height and weight. If you're visiting the doctor because you have a cold, a bladder infection or some other minor ailment, you may wonder why your doctor bothers to get your height and weight at all. In fact, your height and weight record is an important part of your health history.
An Ongoing Health Record
Until you turn 20 years old, your doctor tracks your height and weight on a chart, comparing your numbers to those of other children and young adults of your age and gender, explains MedlinePlus, an online health information resource maintained by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health. Depending on where you fall on the chart, your doctor can determine whether you're growing at a healthy rate. Of course, kids may have sudden growth spurts and dramatic changes in body, so doctors can use your height and weight record to better determine what's normal for you. After your 20th birthday, your doctor won't chart your height and weight, but he'll continue to track it to monitor sudden weight gain or height changes that could indicate health problems like obesity or osteoporosis.
A Way to Track Your Weight
Using your height and weight can help your doctor track your body mass index --- the estimated amount of body fat you have. Though BMI isn't an absolute measure --- particularly for growing children, people with a lot of muscle or people who are already overweight --- when it's combined with the rest of your health record, BMI can help your doctor keep a close eye on your risk for obesity. Since obesity contributes to serious health problems, including heart disease, diabetes and arthritis, charting your BMI can help you reduce your risk.
Serious Problems
A child's height and weight can be an indicator of potential health problems that need attention, including chronic illness, failure to thrive or neglect. If your child's height and weight measurements raise a red flag, your doctor may order other tests or perform other examinations to check for serious problems.
Considerations
Height and weight matter --- but you shouldn't put too much emphasis on any single measurement, particularly when you're talking about children, explains KidsHealth, an online parenting and health information resource maintained by the Nemours Foundation. The overall trend of height and weight --- for kids and grown-ups alike --- matters more than any one measurement. If you hate the weigh-in portion of your doctor's visits, you can always ask the nurse to jot down your measurement without telling you what it is.
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