Endocrinology

Percent total body weight loss expresses change in weight as a fraction of starting weight. It is the standard way to monitor and report response to obesity treatment, including GLP-1 and dual incretin therapies. A loss of 5% or more is generally considered clinically meaningful, with greater benefit at 10% and 15% or more. It is a monitoring metric, not a diagnosis.

BMI is weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. It is a quick population screen for weight status, not a measure of body fat or health on its own. For people of South Asian and other Asian ancestry, risk rises at lower BMIs, so the lower WHO Asia-Pacific cut points are shown alongside the standard bands.

High glucose pulls water out of cells into plasma, diluting the measured sodium so it reads lower than the patient's true sodium status. Correcting for glucose estimates the sodium that would be seen at a normal glucose. This tool reports the correction with both the original Katz factor (1.6 per 100 mg/dL above 100) and the later Hillier factor (2.4 per 100 mg/dL above 100); the headline value uses 2.4.

Estimated average glucose (eAG) converts an HbA1c percentage into the average glucose it corresponds to, expressed in the same units patients see on a meter (mg/dL or mmol/L). It comes from the ADAG study regression. eAG is a population-level estimate of average glucose over the preceding 2 to 3 months, not a substitute for actual glucose monitoring, and it should not be confused with the CGM-derived glucose management indicator (GMI).

HOMA-IR is a simple fasting surrogate for insulin resistance derived by Matthews and colleagues in 1985. A healthy reference individual scores about 1; higher values suggest more insulin resistance. There is no single universal threshold: cutoffs vary with the insulin assay, population, age, and BMI, so the number is best read against your own laboratory's reference range and trended over time.

The Mifflin-St Jeor equation estimates resting energy expenditure (the calories burned at rest) from weight, height, age, and sex. Multiplying by an activity factor gives total daily energy expenditure, a starting point for calorie planning in healthy adults.