Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
Kidz First Neonatal Care, Counties Manukau, Auckland, New Zealand.
Br J Nutr. 2020 Aug 14;124(3):349-360. doi: 10.1017/S0007114520001221. Epub 2020 Apr 6.
Measurement of body composition is increasingly important in research and clinical settings but is difficult in very young children. Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) and air displacement plethysmography (ADP) are well-established but require specialist equipment so are not always feasible. Our aim was to determine if anthropometry and skinfold thickness measurements can be used as a substitute for BIA or ADP for assessing body composition in very young New Zealand children. We used three multi-ethnic cohorts: 217 children at a mean age of 24·2 months with skinfold and BIA measurements; seventy-nine infants at a mean age of 20·9 weeks and seventy-three infants at a mean age of 16·2 weeks, both with skinfold and ADP measurements. We used Bland-Altman plots to compare fat and fat-free mass calculated using all potentially relevant equations with measurements using BIA or ADP. We also calculated the proportion of children in the same tertile for measured fat or fat-free mass and tertiles (i) calculated using each equation, (ii) each absolute skinfold, and (iii) sum of skinfold thicknesses. We found that even for the best equation for each cohort, the 95 % limits of agreement with standard measures were wide (25-200 % of the mean) and the proportion of children whose standard measures fell in the same tertile as the skinfold estimates was ≤69 %. We conclude that none of the available published skinfold thickness equations provides good prediction of body composition in multi-ethnic cohorts of very young New Zealand children with different birth history and growth patterns.
人体成分的测量在研究和临床环境中变得越来越重要，但对于非常年幼的儿童来说却很困难。生物电阻抗分析（BIA）和空气置换体描记法（ADP）是成熟的方法，但需要专业设备，因此并不总是可行的。我们的目的是确定人体测量学和皮褶厚度测量是否可以替代 BIA 或 ADP，用于评估非常年幼的新西兰儿童的身体成分。我们使用了三个多民族队列：217 名儿童的平均年龄为 24.2 个月，进行了皮褶和 BIA 测量；79 名婴儿的平均年龄为 20.9 周，73 名婴儿的平均年龄为 16.2 周，均进行了皮褶和 ADP 测量。我们使用 Bland-Altman 图比较了使用所有潜在相关方程计算的脂肪和去脂体重与 BIA 或 ADP 测量值。我们还计算了在相同三分位的儿童比例，这些儿童的测量脂肪或去脂体重与使用以下方法计算的三分位：(i) 每个方程，(ii) 每个绝对皮褶厚度，以及 (iii) 皮褶厚度总和。我们发现，即使对于每个队列的最佳方程，与标准测量值的 95%一致性界限也很宽（平均值的 25-200%），标准测量值与皮褶估计值落在同一三分位的儿童比例也≤69%。我们得出结论，没有一种现有的皮褶厚度方程可以很好地预测具有不同出生史和生长模式的多民族队列中非常年幼的新西兰儿童的身体成分。
