Mosteller's formula is commonly used to calculate which physiologic measurement?

• A. Body mass index
• B. Body surface area
• C. Lean body mass
• D. Blood pressure

Answer: (B)

Mosteller's formula estimates body surface area. The calculation takes height in centimeters and weight in kilograms, multiplies them, divides by 3600, and then takes the square root, yielding a value in square meters. This single size measure is especially useful because many drug dosages, particularly chemotherapy, are normalized to body surface area to account for differences in distribution and clearance among patients. It’s widely used in clinical practice because it’s simple and correlates reasonably well with metabolic rate and organ size.

In contrast, the other options describe different measurements: body mass index uses weight relative to height squared, lean body mass refers to fat-free mass, and blood pressure is a cardiovascular metric not derived from this formula.