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Reference centiles for evaluating total body fat development and fat distribution by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry among children and adolescents aged 3-18 years.

Authors :
Dong H
Yan Y
Liu J
Cheng H
Zhao X
Shan X
Huang G
Mi J
Source :
Clinical nutrition (Edinburgh, Scotland) [Clin Nutr] 2021 Mar; Vol. 40 (3), pp. 1289-1295. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Aug 19.
Publication Year :
2021

Abstract

Background & Aims: The rise in the prevalence of childhood obesity has increased the demand for accurately evaluating body fatness in pediatric population. The aim of this study was to provide a series of sex- and age-specific body fat reference centiles for evaluating total body fat development and fat distribution in Chinese children and adolescents using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA).<br />Methods: A nationwide sample of Chinese children and adolescents aged 3-18 years (n = 12,790) was drawn from a cross-sectional survey of the China Child and Adolescent Cardiovascular Health study (2013-2019). Fat measurements, including total fat mass index (FMI), total body fat percentage (BF%), regional FMI, trunk to leg (T/L) fat ratio and android to gynoid (A/G) fat ratio, were derived from whole body DXA scans. Sex- and age-specific centiles were estimated using the lambda-mu-sigma method and then compared with values derived from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999-2004) and Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2008-2011).<br />Results: During early childhood, almost all body fat parameters decreased with age, except an increase in A/G ratio. After 7 years onward, drastic upward trends of total FMI and BF% were exhibited in boys till 10 years, followed by opposite downward trends during 11-14 years; while sustained increase of FMI was shown in girls across ages accompanied by relatively constant BF% levels. Meanwhile, steady increases were noticed for A/G ratio and T/L ratio, which were more pronounced in boys. In addition, the proposed body fat references were much lower than the US but similar to Koreans despite of subtle differences.<br />Conclusions: This is the first study to present a set of DXA-based body fat reference for Chinese children and adolescents aged 3-18 years. The new reference provides clinicians and researchers a useful tool for assessing body fat development and distribution patterns throughout early childhood and adolescence.<br />Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest The authors have no conflict of interest.<br /> (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1532-1983
Volume :
40
Issue :
3
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
Clinical nutrition (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
32896446
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnu.2020.08.012