Abdominal wall fat index in neonates: correlation with birth size

Low birth weight is associated with obesity in later life and a more central fat distribution has a positive correlation with cardiovascular disease. However, the correlation between visceral adiposity in newborns and birth size is unknown. We measured the visceral adiposity in 118 newborns using the abdominal wall fat index (AFI), ratio between the maximum thickness of preperitoneal and the minimum thickness of subcutaneous fat evaluated by ultrasound. There was a weak negative correlation between AFI and birth weight (r = -0.197; P = 0.033) but not with birth length (r = -0.118; P = 0.201), body mass index (r = -0.138; P = 0.176) and abdominal circumference (r = 0.063; P = 0.497). In conclusion, we suggest that AFI is a useful parameter for evaluating the fat distribution in newborns and that visceral adiposity has a weak negative correlation with birth weight.