TABLE 2—

National Estimates (With 95% Confidence Intervals) for Height, Weight, and Body Mass Index: 1997 NHIS and BRFSS

	Mean Height, in		Mean Weight, lb		Mean Body Mass Index, kg/m2
	NHIS	BRFSS	NHIS	BRFSS	NHIS	BRFSS
Overall	68.6 (68.5, 68.7)a	67.1 (67.0, 67.1)	166.9 (166.4, 167.4)	166.4 (166.1, 166.8)	28.3 (28.2, 28.5)a	25.9 (25.8, 26.0)
Age, y
18–34	69.0 (68.9, 69.1)a	68.0 (67.9, 68.1)	162.7 (161.8, 163.6)	162.2 (161.6, 162.8)	27.1 (26.8, 27.4)a	24.9 (24.1, 25.7)
35–54	68.8 (68.7, 68.9)a	67.3 (67.2, 67.4)	171.0 (170.2, 171.8)	171.2 (170.7, 171.7)	29.2 (29.0, 29.4)a	26.5 (26.4, 26.6)
≥ 55	67.9 (67.7, 68.1)a	66.3 (66.2, 66.4)	165.9 (165.2, 166.6)	165.0 (164.5, 165.5)	28.6 (28.3, 28.9)a	26.3 (26.2, 26.4)
Gender
Male	71.4 (71.3, 71.5)a	70.0 (69.9, 70.1)	185.1 (184.5, 185.7)	184.7 (184.2, 185.2)	27.9 (27.7, 28.1)a	26.5 (26.4, 26.6)
Female	66.0 (65.9, 66.1)a	64.3 (64.2, 64.4)	149.7 (149.2, 150.2)	148.9 (148.5, 149.3)	28.7 (28.4, 29.0)a	25.4 (25.3, 25.5)
Race/ethnicity
White	68.6 (68.5, 68.7)a	67.3 (67.0, 67.4)	167.2 (166.7, 167.8)	166.7 (166.4, 167.1)	28.1 (27.9, 28.3)a	25.7 (25.5, 25.8)
Black	69.0 (68.7, 69.3)a	67.0 (66.9, 67.1)	174.0 (172.7, 175.3)	174.6 (173.5, 175.6)	30.0 (29.5, 30.4)a	27.4 (27.2, 27.5)
Hispanic	67.7 (67.4, 67.9)a	65.6 (65.5, 65.8)	162.4 (161.3, 163.5)	162.4 (161.2, 163.6)	29.0 (28.6, 29.5)a	26.6 (26.4, 26.7)
Education level
Less than high school	68.4 (68.2, 68.6)a	66.0 (65.9, 66.1)	166.4 (165.4, 167.4)	165.7 (164.7, 166.7)	28.8 (28.4, 29.2)a	26.8 (26.7, 26.9)
High school or some college	68.5 (68.4, 68.6)a	67.0 (66.9, 67.1)	167.9 (167.3, 168.5)a	166.8 (166.4, 167.2)	28.4 (28.2, 28.6)a	26.0 (25.9, 26.1)
College	68.8 (68.6, 69.0)a	67.8 (67.7, 67.9)	164.6 (163.7, 165.5)	166.0 (165.4, 166.6)	26.9 (26.6, 27.2)a	25.3 (25.2, 25.4)

^aSignificant difference from BRFSS, based on 99% confidence interval from the 2-sample t test not containing the null value.