Adolphe Quetelet’s Premonition Two Centuries after: Besides Its Implications in Physiology (Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes), Its Paramount Importance in Human Pregnancy

Author Info

Pierre-Yves Robillard

Corresponding Author

Pierre-Yves Robillard
Service de Néonatologie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sud Réunion, Saint-Pierre, La Réunion, France

A B S T R A C T

Adolphe Quételet (1796-1874) proposed in 1835 the “Quételet index”, which was re-discovered in 1972 by Keys et al. under the acronym “Body Mass index”, BMI. The author makes an historical overview of the evolution of this BMI and its interest in medical science and anthropometry. Nowadays this BMI appears to be involved in a mathematical linear law concerning the gestational weight gain in human pregnancies. Getting rid of the current fuzzy recommendations concerning the optimal weight gain for each woman in pregnancy, this may have paramount consequences for the future. When confirmed, Quételet’s proposal will appear as a further Copernician revolution in human anthropometry.

Article Info

Article Type

Short Report

Publication history

Received: Wed 24, Jun 2020
Accepted: Sat 04, Jul 2020
Published: Fri 10, Jul 2020

Copyright

© 2023 Pierre-Yves Robillard. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Hosting by Science Repository.
DOI: 10.31487/j.JDMC.2020.01.05