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Updated: Nov 20, 2025
Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
Published on: February 2, 2017
Body composition monitoring in children and adolescents: reproducibility and reference values
Annelies Van Eyck1,2, Sofie Eerens2, Dominique Trouet1,2
1Laboratory of Experimental Medicine and Pediatrics and member of the Infla-Med Centre of Excellence, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium.
Insights
The Body Composition Monitor (BCM) demonstrates high reproducibility for measuring body composition in children. This study provides essential age- and gender-specific reference values for pediatric body composition assessment.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Body Composition Analysis
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Accurate body composition assessment tools are needed for children.
- The Body Composition Monitor (BCM) shows potential but lacks pediatric reference values.
- Existing gold-standard methods are impractical for large-scale pediatric screening.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the reproducibility of the Body Composition Monitor (BCM) in children.
- To establish age- and gender-specific reference values for pediatric body composition using the BCM.
- To validate the BCM as a reliable tool for pediatric body composition monitoring.
Main Methods:
- Inter- and intra-rater reproducibility of BCM measurements were assessed in 20 children.
- Reliability was determined using Bland-Altman analysis and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs).
- Age- and gender-specific percentile values and reference curves were generated for 2058 children (aged 3-18.5 years) using the GAMLSS method.
Main Results:
- High intra-rater (≥0.97) and inter-rater (≥0.98) ICCs were observed for most BCM parameters.
- The BCM demonstrated good reproducibility for fat mass, lean tissue mass, extracellular water, and total body water.
- Reference curves for body composition and fluid status were successfully generated for children aged 3 to 18.5 years.
Conclusions:
- The BCM exhibits high reproducibility, supporting its use in pediatric longitudinal studies.
- The study successfully established crucial reference values for pediatric body composition using the BCM.
- These findings provide a foundation for utilizing the BCM in clinical practice and research for pediatric populations.
Abstract:
There is an increasing need for suitable tools to evaluate body composition in paediatrics. The Body Composition Monitor (BCM) shows promise as a method, but reference values in children are lacking. Twenty children were included and measured twice by 4 different raters to asses inter- and intra-rater reproducibility of the BCM. Reliability was assessed using the Bland-Altman method and by calculating intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). The intra-rater ICCs were high (≥ 0.97) for all parameters measured by BCM as were the inter-rater ICCs for all parameters (≥ 0.98) except for overhydration (0.76). Consequently, a study was set up in which BCM measurements were performed in 2058 healthy children aged 3-18.5 years. The age- and gender-specific percentile values and reference curves for body composition (BMI, waist circumference, fat mass and lean tissue mass) and fluid status (extracellular and intracellular water and total body water) relative to age were produced using the GAMLSS method for growth curves.Conclusion: A high reproducibility of BCM measurements was found for fat mass, lean tissue mass, extracellular water and total body water. Reference values for these BCM parameters were calculated in over 2000 children and adolescents aged 3 to 18 years. What is Known • The 4-compartment model is regarded as the 'gold standard' of body composition methods, but is inappropriate for regular follow-up or screening of large groups, because of associated limitations. • Body Composition Monitor® is an inexpensive field method that has the potential to be an adequate monitoring tool. What is New • Good reproducibility of BCM measurements in children provides evidence to use the device in longitudinal follow-up, multicentre and comparative studies. • Paediatric reference values relative to age and sex for the various compartments of the body are provided.
