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Updated: Apr 18, 2026
Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
Published on: February 2, 2017
Body fat in children measured by DXA, air-displacement plethysmography, TBW and multicomponent models: a systematic
Roberta de Vargas Zanini1, Iná S Santos, Maria Aurora D Chrestani
1Programa de Pós-Graduação em Epidemiologia, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Marechal Deodoro 1160 (3° andar), Centro, Pelotas, RS, CEP 96020-220, Brazil, robe.nutri@gmail.com.
Insights
This review found dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is the most common indirect method for assessing body fat in children aged 0-9. However, the fat mass index (FMI) was rarely reported in the selected studies.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Body Composition Analysis
- Public Health
Background:
- Accurate assessment of body fat in children is crucial for monitoring growth and identifying health risks.
- Indirect methods offer non-invasive alternatives to direct body fat measurement.
- A comprehensive understanding of current indirect assessment methods in pediatric populations is needed.
Purpose of the Study:
- To systematically review and identify studies utilizing indirect methods for body fat assessment in healthy children aged 0-9 years.
- To analyze the types of indirect methods employed and the body fat metrics reported.
- To evaluate the frequency of reporting specific indices like the fat mass index (FMI).
Main Methods:
- A systematic literature review adhering to PRISMA guidelines was performed.
- Searches were conducted across MEDLINE/PubMed, SciELO, and Google Scholar databases.
- Eligibility criteria were applied to studies involving healthy children (0-9 years), with 22 articles ultimately selected after initial screening of over 11,000 articles.
Main Results:
- Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) was the most frequently used indirect method (14 studies).
- Other methods included air-displacement plethysmography (5 studies), multicomponent models (2 studies), and total body water (1 study).
- The fat mass index (FMI) was reported in only seven studies, despite most studies reporting absolute or relative body fat measures.
Conclusions:
- DXA is the predominant indirect method for assessing body fat in healthy young children.
- There is a low frequency of reporting the fat mass index (FMI), a potentially valuable metric for pediatric body composition.
- Further research should consider the consistent reporting of standardized body fat indices like FMI in pediatric studies.
Abstract:
To conduct a systematic literature review to identify studies that used indirect methods to assess body fat in healthy children. A systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines. We conducted a search in the MEDLINE/PubMed, SciELO and Google Scholar databases. Studies in healthy children aged 0-9 years were eligible for inclusion. Studies were kept or excluded from the review according to eligibility criteria defined a priori. Two independent reviewers conducted all steps in the study selection. Initially, 11,246 articles were retrieved, with 3,593 duplicates. After applying the eligibility criteria, 22 articles were selected for review. The methodology of each study was analyzed by each reviewer individually. The indirect methods used to assess body fat in children included dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) (14 articles), air-displacement plethysmography (five articles), multicomponent models (two articles), and total body water (one article). Most studies reported absolute (in kilograms) or relative (percentage) body fat measures. Only seven studies reported the fat mass index (FMI) (kg/m(2)). DXA was the indirect method most frequently used to assess body fat in healthy children. FMI was seldom reported.
