Body-surface area

The body-surface area (BSA) — that is, more precisely, the surface area of a human body or, equivalently, the size of its skin — is a physiological measure used in medicine. On the average, the body-surface area is 1.7 m² (1.9 m² for men and 1.6 m² for women).

A common estimate is given by the Mosteller formula:

${\text{BSA}}(\mathrm {m} ^{2})={\sqrt {{\text{weight}}(\mathrm {kg} )\times {\text{height}}(\mathrm {cm} ) \over 3600}}={\sqrt {{\text{weight}}(\mathrm {lb} )\times {\text{height}}(\mathrm {in} ) \over 3131}}$