Jenna Hagerty

Many US body donation programs impose restrictions on donations based on body size. To examine the body habitus criteria related to body weight, height, proportion, and other size factors in United States body donation programs (USBDP), 127 USBDP publicly available websites listed by the University of Florida were reviewed. Since this study focuses on publicly available website information, it may not capture the characteristics of all programs. Eleven percent of the USBDP websites with public‐facing criteria exclusively listed numeric restrictions, while 24.4% included both descriptive and quantitative (numeric) terminology. The majority of websites with public‐facing criteria (90.6%) imposed a weight‐related restriction, with 55.1% providing descriptive (i.e., non‐numeric) terms. The most common body mass index (BMI) cutoff (30 kg/m ² ) could disqualify some U.S. adults from donating, as the average BMI in the United States for adult females is 29.8 and for adult males is 29.4. Fourteen programs offered explanations of their descriptive or numeric weight/BMI restrictions. As language evolves to better describe and reflect body habitus, keeping up to date with best practice and community preferences may help when designing donor criteria. Public‐facing information about body habitus criteria for donation may limit the representativeness of body habitus used in anatomical education and research. The implications of this on anatomical education and weight bias in students require more research.

Medical schools rely on body donation programs to obtain cadavers for teaching anatomy and conducting scientific research. However, many body donation programs utilize strict criteria for donation, including height, amputee status, body weight, or body mass index (BMI). BMI criteria limit medical students’ the familiarity and positive interactions with larger bodies, possibly decreasing the future quality of care provided by these students to high weight individuals and increasing weight stigma. This study assessed online criteria for 128 body donation programs in the United States, focusing on weight and BMI. Most (90.6%) of body donation program websites had weight-based restrictions, using either qualitative terms (79.7%, obese, proportional), quantitative measures (35.9%, BMI, weight), or both (25%). Only 9% provided justifications for weight limitations. In addition, no programs had DEI statements. The most used BMI cutoff (30 kg/m2) eliminates half of potential US body donors, since the average BMI for adults is 29.8 for females and 29.4 for males. This research demonstrates a key area for improvements in medical school weight bias. Increasing weight equity in body donation programs can be the first step in reducing medical weight bias and providing a broader and more realistic medical education with respect to body size.