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Body Surface Area (Mosteller Formula)

Also known as BSA · body surface area

BSA=hcm⋅mkg3600\mathrm{BSA} = \sqrt{\frac{h_{cm} \cdot m_{kg}}{3600}}

Worked example: 1.80 m, 75 kg → 1.93649 m2 — press Try an example to run it live, then adjust anything.

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Body Surface Area (Mosteller Formula) explained

hmBSA

Surface area, not mass, is what many physiological quantities scale with: cardiac output, glomerular filtration, the dose of several chemotherapy agents. Measuring it directly means wrapping a person in paper, which is why every clinic uses a formula instead. Richard Mosteller published this one in a 1987 letter to the New England Journal of Medicine, and its appeal is that you can do it on any calculator: multiply height in centimetres by mass in kilograms, divide by 3600, take the square root.

It agrees with the older exponential fits to within a couple of percent across the ordinary range of adult bodies, which is well inside the uncertainty of the fits themselves. Note the 3600 is not a physical constant but the number that makes the square root land where Du Bois had already put it.

Body Surface Area (Mosteller Formula)

BSA=hcm⋅mkg3600\mathrm{BSA} = \sqrt{\frac{h_{cm} \cdot m_{kg}}{3600}}
Where
  • BSA\mathrm{BSA}= Body surface area (m²)
  • hh= Height (m)
  • mm= Body mass (kg)

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