Calculate body surface area in square meters using the Mosteller or Du Bois formula.
Body Surface Area (BSA) is an estimate of the total surface area of a person's body, expressed in square meters. Unlike BMI, which relates weight to height as a health indicator, BSA is primarily used in clinical settings — for example, to calculate medication dosages, chemotherapy drug amounts, and fluid requirements, since many physiological processes scale more closely with body surface area than with weight alone.
Mosteller: BSA (m²) = √( Height(cm) × Weight(kg) ÷ 3600 )
Du Bois: BSA (m²) = 0.007184 × Height(cm)0.725 × Weight(kg)0.425
For a person 170 cm tall weighing 68 kg, the Mosteller formula gives BSA = √(170 × 68 ÷ 3600) = √3.211 ≈ 1.79 m², which is close to the average adult BSA of roughly 1.7 m².
This tool is for general reference only and is not a substitute for medical or pharmaceutical calculations performed by a licensed healthcare professional.
BSA estimates total skin surface area, primarily used in medicine to dose certain medications (especially chemotherapy) more precisely than weight-based dosing alone.
Commonly the DuBois formula: BSA = 0.007184 x weight(kg)^0.425 x height(cm)^0.725, though other formulas like Mosteller also exist.
No — BSA-based dosing should always be calculated and confirmed by a healthcare professional, since medication decisions require clinical judgment beyond a single formula.