Body Surface Area and Usage Areas

Abstract

Body surface area is an anthropometric parameter used in many areas like drug dose adjustment, burn treatment, and determination of fluid requirement, as well as to calculate the basal metabolic rate. It is critical for many medical specialties, such as chemotherapy, transplantology, burn therapy, and toxicology. Until the 19th century, researchers looked for easy ways to calculate body surface area and developed various formulas. There were several different formulas derived from height and weight measurements to predict body surface area. Historically, the DuBois & DuBois formula is the most used, but Mosteller's formula is more popular due to its simplicity. The accuracy of the body surface area formulas, which are still in use today, is still being debated because they are determined by a few sample studies, and different sizes such as children and adults are not taken into consideration in sample selection. New and practical calculation methods are tried to be determined. This review aims to investigate the emergence of the body surface area and where it is used.