[Reference values of body fat indices in Chinese children aged 6-9 years old in Guangzhou].

OBJECTIVE

To establish normal reference values of total and segmental body fat distribution of children aged 6-9 years old in Guangzhou, which can be used for abnormal fat accumulation surveillance.

METHODS

A total of 456 children aged 6-9 years old were enrolled between December, 2015 to March, 2017 in Guangzhou, China. Body composition was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry( DXA). The LMS regression method was used to construct age-and gender-specific smooth percentile curves of total body fat mass( TBFM), percentage of total body fat( % TBF), android fat mass, gynoid fat mass, appendicular fat mass( AFM), percentage android fat, percentage gynoid fat, percentage appendicular fat mass( % AFM) and android/gynoid ratio. The 5th to 85th, 85th and 95th centiles of body fat indexes were applied to define "normal", "overfat", and "obese"status.

RESULTS

Linear trend test showed that except for total body fat percentage( % TBF) in girls, total body fat mass( TBFM), segmental body fat mass and % TBF increased significantly with age in both genders. The reference values of TBFM for boys in each age group were 3. 87-6. 04, 3. 72-7. 74, 3. 82-9. 85, 4. 30-13. 35 kg, respectively, and for girls were 3. 86-7. 76, 3. 97-8. 50, 4. 23-9. 46, 4. 78-10. 74 kg, respectively. The corresponding values for the % TBF were 20. 07%-28. 84%, 18. 50%-30. 32%, 17. 93%-31. 97%, 18. 10%-34. 81% in boys, and20. 91%-34. 14%, 20. 64%-34. 60%, 20. 18%-33. 99%, 20. 28%-34. 40% in girls, respectively. In terms of android/gynoid ratio, the values were 0. 62-0. 78, 0. 58-0. 83, 0. 58-0. 88, 0. 57-0. 93 for boys, and 0. 50-0. 76, 0. 54-0. 81, 0. 57-0. 85, 0. 50-0. 82 for girls, respectively.

CONCLUSION

The data provided normal reference range for assessing body fat distribution in children aged 6-9 years in Guangzhou, China.