title: Availability and utility of body mass index for population-based cancer surveillance.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the availability of body height and weight data in the hospital medical record of cancer patients and discuss the utility of the findings to population-based cancer research and the surveillance of overweight and obesity in the United States.
  
  
  METHODS
  Medical records were reviewed for up to three measures of height and weight for a random sample of 1,739 patients diagnosed (2001-2003) with one of the 12 types of cancer and reported to the population-based Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry of Northern California.
  
  
  RESULTS
  About 84% of cancer patients had at least one value of height, 91% had at least one value of weight, and 83% had both values recorded in the medical record such that body mass index (BMI) could be computed. About 60% of height and weight values were recorded within 2 months of cancer diagnosis, with most values (71%) recorded after cancer diagnosis. The availability of BMI varied somewhat by race/ethnicity, cancer site, initial treatment, and hospital characteristics.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  BMI may be sufficiently available to be included routinely in the population-based cancer registries, and, if so, would be useful for studies of cancer diagnoses and outcomes and permit nationwide surveillance of BMI in a large population-representative cohort of cancer patients.
authors.affiliation: Northern California Cancer Center, 2201 Walnut Avenue, Fremont, CA 94538, USA. tkeegan@nccc.org
authors.forename: Theresa H M
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Keegan
authors.forename: Gem M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Le
authors.forename: Laura A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: McClure
authors.forename: Sally L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Glaser
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006753:Hospital Records; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D012042:Registries; D018426:SEER Program