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Objective: To determine whether there is a significant difference between anthropometric measurements of prepubertal children and the measurements of another sample with similar characteristics, studied fifteen years ago., Material and Methods: We studied 859 children, 453 males and 406 females, from the age of 5.0 to 10.0 years. Weight, height, arm circumference and skinfold thicknesses in the biceps, triceps, subscapular and suprailiac were determined. Body mass index, body density, total fat and percentage fat were calculated and their values compared with those obtained 15 years ago in 1,617 children with similar characteristics. Difference between means were calculated with Student's single-sample t-test., Results: Weight increased in all the ages, with significant differences in males at 7, 8 and 9 years (p<0.001) and in females after the age of 6 years (p< 0.05). Height significantly increased at all ages and in both sexes, except in females at the age of 5 years. Body mass index increased only at the ages of 8 and 9 years in males (p<0.01). Skinfold thicknesses significantly increased in both sexes and at all ages (p<0.05). Body density decreased (p<0.01) and body fat increased, both in kilograms and in percentage (p<0.01)., Conclusions: During the 15 years studied, height and weight increased significantly. Body mass index did not increase significantly, whereas body fat (skinfold thicknesses and fat compartment) significantly increased.

Objective: To describe the proportion of body fat mass, quantified from the measurement of 4 skinfold thickness, in a sample of male children of Zaragoza., Methods: In 1995, we have studied 701 males aged 6.0 to 14.9 years, from 6 schools of the province of Zaragoza. We have measured: weight, height, and biceps, triceps, subscapular and suprailiac skinfold thicknesses. Body density has been calculated from the 4 skinfold measurements, with the formulas of Sarría et al. Fat mass (%), was calculated with the Weststrate and Deurenberg's formulas. In each age group, we present mean, standard deviation and 5, 25, 50, 75 and 95th percentiles., Results: We present mean, standard deviation and 5, 25, 50, 75 and 95th percentiles of body fat mass (%), in each age group. Body fat mass (%) progressively increased until 10.5 years and, after, progressively decrease at least until 14.5 years., Conclusions: We present data of body fat mass (%), calculated from the measurement of 4 skinfold thicknesses, obtained from a reference population in the province of Zaragoza. These data are useful as more rationale criteria in the diagnosis of obesity in children and adolescents.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine if there were differences in the assessment of the nutritional status between values of bioelectric impedance (BI) measured in the morning (08:30) and in the afternoon (17:00)., Patients and Methods: We have studied 30 boys between 6.5 and 10.9 years of age. Weight, stature, skinfold thickness and total body impedance (Z) were measured at 08:30 and at 17:00 on the same day., Results: In 28 of 30 boys, Z at 17:00 was lower than Z at 08:30. The mean decrease in Z was 4.64% of the morning result (p = 0.0001). At 17:00 there was an increase in total body water (TBW) and fat-free mass (FFM) measured by BI, 0.681, and 0.93 Kg, respectively (p = 0.0001), compared with morning values. We did not find differences between skinfold thickness values in the morning and in the afternoon, except for the suprailiac skinfold, which was a bit larger in the afternoon (p = 0.05). In the morning and afternoon there was a high correlation between FFM measured by skinfold thickness and values of TBW and FFM measured by BI., Conclusions: Z in boys decrease in the afternoon (17:00) compared with morning values (08:30). This fact must be considered by the pediatrician when IB is used for the assessment of nutritional status in children.

Objective: The aim of this study was to describe anthropometric indexes of fat distribution in 6.0 to 14.9 year old children and to estimate the timing of differentiation of fat patterning in male and female children and adolescents., Patients and Methods: We have studied a sample of 1,360 children (701 boys and 659 girls) from Zaragoza, Spain. We have measured triceps and subscapular skinfold thicknessess and waist and hip circumferences. With these measurements, we have calculated the indexes of fat distribution including waist-to-hip circumference ratio and triceps-to-subscapular skinfold thickness ratio. We present the percentiles of these indexes., Results: All percentiles of the waist-to-hip ratio were higher in males than in females. Percentiles 5, 50 and 95 of the triceps-to-subscapular skinfold thickness ratio showed similar values in males and females, except that percentile 95 was higher in males than in females after 10.5 years., Conclusions: The waist-to-hip ratio seems to define earlier the pattern of fat distribution in children than does the triceps-to-subscapular skinfold thickness ratio. If we take into account the waist-to-hip ratio, the pattern of fat distribution is already present in school age children.