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Inverted BMI rather than BMI is a better predictor of DEXA determined body fatness in children

M J Duncan1, C Martins2, G Silva3

  • 1Department of Biomolecular and Sports Science, Coventry University, Coventry, UK.

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition
|January 9, 2014
PubMed

Insights

Inverted Body Mass Index (iBMI) is a comparable predictor of body fatness in children, similar to the traditional Body Mass Index (BMI). This finding suggests iBMI may also be a useful tool for assessing pediatric body composition.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Endocrinology
  • Body Composition Analysis
  • Anthropometry

Background:

  • Body Mass Index (BMI) is widely used to assess body fatness in children, but its distribution may not be normal.
  • Alternative anthropometric indices are needed to accurately predict body fatness in pediatric populations.
  • Understanding body fatness is crucial for identifying health risks in children.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare the effectiveness of Body Mass Index (BMI) and inverted BMI (iBMI) as predictors of body fatness in Portuguese children.
  • To evaluate the normality of BMI and iBMI distributions in the pediatric population.
  • To determine which index, BMI or iBMI, better predicts fat mass index (FMI) when controlling for maturation.

Main Methods:

  • A cross-sectional study involving 177 Portuguese children (aged 7-16 years).
  • Measurements included height, body mass, BMI (kg/m(2)), and iBMI (cm(2)/kg).
  • Fat Mass Index (FMI) was assessed using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry; maturation was determined via self-report.

Main Results:

  • Both BMI and iBMI showed significant relationships with FMI (P=0.0001).
  • BMI distribution was not normal (P=0.0001), whereas iBMI was normally distributed (P>0.05).
  • Analysis of covariance indicated that both BMI and iBMI were significant predictors of FMI, controlling for maturation, with iBMI explaining slightly more variance (adjusted R(2)=0.970) than BMI (adjusted R(2)=0.968).

Conclusions:

  • iBMI is a comparable proxy for body fatness in children, similar to BMI.
  • The normal distribution of iBMI may offer advantages over BMI in certain statistical analyses.
  • iBMI presents a potentially valuable alternative for assessing body fatness in pediatric populations.

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