A simple approach to deciding what dose of propofol should be used for induction of anesthesia in children ages 3 to 17 years is to first establish the child's BMI on readily available gender-specific charts. Obese children (BMI >95th percentile for age and gender) require a lower weight-based dose of propofol for induction of anesthesia, than do normal-weight children.

O bese children present a challenge for anesthetists in terms of the appropriate dose of anesthetic drugs to administer. The dose of propofol that caused loss of consciousness in 95% (ED 95 ) of obese and nonobese children, as determined by loss of eyelash reflex, was studied in 80 children. Forty obese (body