TY - JOUR
AR - JDMC-2020-1-105
TI - Adolphe Quetelet’s Premonition Two Centuries after: Besides Its Implications in Physiology (Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes), Its Paramount Importance in Human Pregnancy
AU - Pierre-Yves, Robillard
JO - Journal of Diabetes Metabolism and its Complications
PY - 2020
DA - Fri 10, Jul 2020
SN - 2674-4163
DO - http://dx.doi.org/10.31487/j.JDMC.2020.01.05
UR - https://www.sciencerepository.org/adolphe-quetelet-s-premonition-two-centuries-after-besides-its-implications-in_JDMC-2020-1-105 
KW - Adolphe Quetelet, pregnancy, epidemiology, pre-pregnancy body mass index, gestational weight gain, caesarean section, obesity
AB - 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.