Body composition at birth and its relationship with neonatal anthropometric ratios: The newborn body composition study of the INTERGROWTH-21 st project

José Villar, Fabien A. Puglia, Tanis R. Fenton, Leila Cheikh Ismail, Eleonora Staines-Urias, Francesca Giuliani, Eric O. Ohuma, Cesar G. Victora, Peter Sullivan, Fernando C. Barros, Ann Lambert, Aris T. Papageorghiou, Roseline Ochieng, Yasmin A. Jaffer, Douglas G. Altman, Alison J. Noble, Michael G. Gravett, Manorama Purwar, Ruyan Pang, Ricardo UauyStephen H. Kennedy, Zulfiqar A. Bhutta

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

87 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

BackgroundWe aimed to describe newborn body composition and identify which anthropometric ratio (weight/length; BMI; or ponderal index, PI) best predicts fat mass (FM) and fat-free mass (FFM).MethodsAir-displacement plethysmography (PEA POD) was used to estimate FM, FFM, and body fat percentage (BF%). Associations between FFM, FM, and BF% and weight/length, BMI, and PI were evaluated in 1,019 newborns using multivariate regression analysis. Charts for FM, FFM, and BF% were generated using a prescriptive subsample (n=247). Standards for the best-predicting anthropometric ratio were calculated utilizing the same population used for the INTERGROWTH-21 st Newborn Size Standards (n=20,479).ResultsFFM and FM increased consistently during late pregnancy. Differential FM, BF%, and FFM patterns were observed for those born preterm (34 +0 -36 +6 weeks' gestation) and with impaired intrauterine growth. Weight/length by gestational age (GA) was a better predictor of FFM and FM (adjusted R 2 =0.92 and 0.71, respectively) than BMI or PI, independent of sex, GA, and timing of measurement. Results were almost identical when only preterm newborns were studied. We present sex-specific centiles for weight/length ratio for GA.ConclusionsWeight/length best predicts newborn FFM and FM. There are differential FM, FFM, and BF% patterns by sex, GA, and size at birth.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)305-316
Number of pages12
JournalPediatric Research
Volume82
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2017

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