body surface area (Mosteller)

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The Mosteller Body Surface Area calculator computes the body surface area of the human body based on the person's weight (w) and height (h) using the Mosteller formula.

INSTRUCTIONS: Choose units and enter the following:

(w) Weight of Person
(h) Height of Person.

BSA: The weight and height are converted into kilograms and centimeters and the BSA is computed in square meters (m²). However, this can be automatically converted into other area units via the pull-down menu.

The Math / Science

The Mosteller Body Surface Area formula is as follows;

`BSA = sqrt((h*w)/3600)`

where:

BSA = Body Surface Area
h = patient's height
w = patient's weight

BSA is used in physiology and medicine. The default input units are centimeters (cm) for height and kilograms (kg) for weight, and meters squared (m²). However, the calculator provides automatic conversions for both the inputs and outputs to other (e.g. English) units via the pull-down menus. To change to English units, click on the button at the right side of the height(h) input field with cm and scroll down to another unit such as inches. You can then enter the height in inches and the conversion will be made for you. You can do the same for weight (w) by clicking on the kg field and scroll down to pounds. Again the conversion will be made for you.

Body Surface Area (BSA) is the measured or calculated surface area of a human body frequently used in physiology and medicine. For many clinical purposes BSA is a better indicator of metabolic mass than body weight because it is less affected by abnormal adipose mass. Estimation of BSA is simpler than many measures of volume.

BSA Calculators vs Inputs
Method	Height	Weight	Gender
Mosteller	x	x
Gehan and George	x	x
Boyd	x	x
DuBois	x	x
Haycock	x	x
Fujimoto	x	x
Takahira	x	x
Schlick	x	x	x
Costeff		x
Wang Hihara	x	x

Demographic BSA Means

**Mean Body Surface Area (male and female)**
Age Range	Male	Female
Neonate	0.243 m²	0.234 m²
2 years old	0.563 m²	0.54 m²
5 years old	0.787 m²	0.771 m²
10 years old	1.236 m²	1.245 m²
13 years old	1.603 m²	1.55 m²
18 years old	1.98 m²	1.726 m²
20 to 79 years old	2.06 m²	1.83 m²
80 and above	1.92 m²	1.638 m²

Body Surface Area (BSA) Calculators

Other BSA Applications

The BSA Compare function lets you enter a body surface area and choose a demographic (above) to compute the percent compared to the mean.
Wallace Rule of Nines: This computes a percentage of the human body for burn victims based on percentages allocated to different body parts.
Rule of Fives: This computes a percentage of the human body for obese burn victims.
Parkland Replacement Fluid: This compute the volume of replacement fluids needed in the first 24 hours based on the patients weight (mass) and the percent of their body that has been burned.
BSA Percent: This computes a body surface area based on the total body surface area and a percent..