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Quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance to measure fat mass in infants and children

Aline Andres1, Horacio Gomez-Acevedo, Thomas M Badger

  • 1Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA. andresaline@uams.edu

Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.)
|July 23, 2011
PubMed

Insights

Quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance (QMR) precisely measures body fat in children. Mathematical adjustments improve QMR accuracy for infants and children up to 50 kg, offering a fast, reliable method for body composition assessment.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric body composition analysis
  • Biomedical engineering
  • Quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance (QMR) applications

Background:

  • Quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance (QMR) is a precise method for measuring total body fat mass (FM) in adults.
  • Assessing pediatric body composition is crucial for monitoring growth and health.
  • Existing methods may have limitations in precision or applicability to diverse pediatric age groups.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the accuracy and precision of a pediatric QMR device (EchoMRI-AH) for body composition assessment in infants and children.
  • To compare QMR measurements with established methods like dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), air displacement plethysmography (ADP), deuterium oxide dilution (D(2)O), and a four-compartment (4-C) model.
  • To determine the effectiveness of mathematical adjustments for improving QMR accuracy in pediatric populations.

Main Methods:

  • Body composition of 113 infants and children (3.3-49.9 kg) was assessed using QMR, DXA, PeaPod (infants ≤ 8 kg), and BodPod (children ≥ 6 years).
  • QMR results were compared against D(2)O dilution and a 4-C model.
  • A piece-wise defined mathematical model was developed to adjust QMR data for infants.

Main Results:

  • QMR demonstrated high compliance (98%) and precision (CV = 1.42%).
  • QMR initially overestimated FM by ~10% compared to the 4-C model and underestimated by ~4% compared to D(2)O in older children.
  • Mathematical adjustment significantly improved QMR accuracy relative to D(2)O and 4-C models for infants, enhancing concordance.

Conclusions:

  • The pediatric QMR device (EchoMRI-AH) shows high precision for body fat mass assessment in children up to 50 kg.
  • Mathematical adjustments are necessary to optimize QMR accuracy, particularly for infants, when compared to D(2)O and 4-C models.
  • Adjusted pediatric QMR offers a fast and precise longitudinal method for assessing body composition in diverse pediatric age groups.

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