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Effect of sex and gestational age on neonatal body composition

Laure Simon1, Paula Borrego, Dominique Darmaun

  • 1Department of Neonatal Medicine, Hôpital Mère-et-Enfant, CHU de Nantes, 44093 Nantes cedex 1, France.

The British Journal of Nutrition
|July 13, 2012
PubMed

Insights

Preterm infants have higher body fat percentage than full-term newborns due to lower lean body mass accretion. This difference is more pronounced in preterm boys compared to girls.

Area of Science:

  • Neonatalogy
  • Pediatric Body Composition
  • Infant Physiology

Background:

  • Infant body composition is influenced by gestational age and sex.
  • Understanding these factors is crucial for assessing infant health and development.
  • Air displacement plethysmography is a reliable method for measuring body composition.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of gestational age (term vs. preterm) and sex on infant body composition.
  • To compare fat mass and lean body mass percentages between term and preterm neonates.
  • To identify sex-specific differences in body composition within term and preterm groups.

Main Methods:

  • Air displacement plethysmography was used to assess body composition.
  • The study included 46 full-term neonates and 180 preterm neonates.
  • Measurements were taken at different time points: 3 days of life for term infants and prior to discharge for preterm infants.

Main Results:

  • Preterm infants exhibited a higher percentage of body fat (13.4%) compared to term infants (10.1%).
  • Absolute fat mass did not differ, but lean body mass was significantly lower in preterm infants.
  • In term infants, females had higher fat mass percentage than males; no sex difference was observed in preterm infants.

Conclusions:

  • Preterm infants have a greater body fat percentage upon hospital discharge compared to term infants.
  • This is likely due to reduced lean body mass accretion during early extra-uterine life.
  • The findings suggest potential sex-related differences in lean body mass accretion in preterm infants, particularly affecting boys.

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