Body Surface Area (Mosteller Formula)

Also known as BSA · body surface area

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

BSA =

h =

m =

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Learning zone

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)

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

Where

$\mathrm{BSA}$ = Body surface area (m²)
$h$ = Height (m)
$m$ = Body mass (kg)

Missing one of these? Work it out first, then come back

Body surface area — Body Surface Area (Du Bois Formula), Cone Total Surface Area
Height — Body Mass Index (BMI), Body Surface Area (Du Bois Formula)
Body mass — Body Mass Index (BMI), Body Surface Area (Du Bois Formula)

Part of this formula set

Body and fitness numbers

6 formulasBMI, maximum and target heart rate, body surface area and calories burned — with what each number cannot tell you.