Percentile reference values for anthropometric body composition indices in European children from the IDEFICS study.

Area of Science:

• Pediatric endocrinology
• Nutritional science
• Anthropometry

Background:

• Accurate nutritional status assessment in children requires body composition measures beyond Body Mass Index (BMI).
• Existing European references for body composition in children are limited, hindering differentiated assessment of obesity and wasting.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish percentile curves for body composition indices in normal-weight European children.
• To provide a reference for assessing total and abdominal adiposity in children.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of anthropometric measurements from 18,745 children (aged 2.0-10.9 years) from the IDEFICS cohort.
• Exclusion of overweight/obese or underweight children (N=5915) based on IOTF criteria.
• Calculation of smoothed percentile curves (1st-99th) for various body composition measures using GAMLSS, stratified by sex and age.

Main Results:

• Provided age- and sex-specific percentile values for key anthropometric measures related to adiposity.
• Demonstrated significant age- and sex-specific differences in body composition indices.
• Example: Waist circumference percentiles varied from 50.7-59.2 cm to 60.6-76.7 cm across age groups.

Conclusions:

• The developed percentile curves offer a valuable tool for differentiated assessment of total and abdominal adiposity in European children.
• These references support improved identification and management of nutritional status issues in pediatric populations.