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Updated: Apr 23, 2026
Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
Published on: February 2, 2017
Percentile reference values for anthropometric body composition indices in European children from the IDEFICS study
P Nagy1, E Kovacs1, L A Moreno2
1Department of Pediatrics, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary.
Insights
New European reference values for body composition in children are now available. These percentiles help assess adiposity beyond BMI, aiding in nutritional status evaluations for children with obesity or wasting.
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.
Introduction:
To characterise the nutritional status in children with obesity or wasting conditions, European anthropometric reference values for body composition measures beyond the body mass index (BMI) are needed. Differentiated assessment of body composition in children has long been hampered by the lack of appropriate references.
Objectives:
The aim of our study is to provide percentiles for body composition indices in normal weight European children, based on the IDEFICS cohort (Identification and prevention of Dietary- and lifestyle-induced health Effects in Children and infantS).
Methods:
Overall 18,745 2.0-10.9-year-old children from eight countries participated in the study. Children classified as overweight/obese or underweight according to IOTF (N=5915) were excluded from the analysis. Anthropometric measurements (BMI (N=12 830); triceps, subscapular, fat mass and fat mass index (N=11,845-11,901); biceps, suprailiac skinfolds, sum of skinfolds calculated from skinfold thicknesses (N=8129-8205), neck circumference (N=12,241); waist circumference and waist-to-height ratio (N=12,381)) were analysed stratified by sex and smoothed 1st, 3rd, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th, 97th and 99th percentile curves were calculated using GAMLSS.
Results:
Percentile values of the most important anthropometric measures related to the degree of adiposity are depicted for European girls and boys. Age- and sex-specific differences were investigated for all measures. As an example, the 50th and 99th percentile values of waist circumference ranged from 50.7-59.2 cm and from 51.3-58.7 cm in 4.5- to <5.0-year-old girls and boys, respectively, to 60.6-74.5 cm in girls and to 59.9-76.7 cm in boys at the age of 10.5-10.9 years.
Conclusion:
The presented percentile curves may aid a differentiated assessment of total and abdominal adiposity in European children.
