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Body composition assessment in 6-month-old infants: A comparison of two- and three-compartment models using data from
Manoja P Herath1, Jeffrey M Beckett1, Sisitha Jayasinghe1
1School of Health Sciences, College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania, Launceston, TAS, 7248, Australia.
Insights
Comparing infant body composition methods, air displacement plethysmography (ADP) and deuterium dilution (DD) showed no significant mean differences. However, biases were found, highlighting the importance of method choice and hydration status in infant growth studies.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Nutrition and Growth
- Body Composition Analysis
- Infant Physiology
Background:
- Accurate infant body composition assessment is crucial for understanding early growth quality.
- Air displacement plethysmography (ADP) and deuterium dilution (DD) are common infant body composition methods.
- Evaluating the comparability of these methods is essential for reliable research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare body composition measurements between ADP and DD techniques in 6-month-old infants.
- To assess the agreement between two-compartment (2C) and three-compartment (3C) models using ADP and DD.
- To identify potential biases and influencing factors in infant body composition assessment.
Main Methods:
- Infant fat mass (FM) and percent fat mass (%FM) were measured using ADP (PEA POD) and DD.
- Data were analyzed using Bland-Altman analysis and Deming regression to compare 2C and 3C models.
- Comparisons included 2C-ADP vs 3C, 2C-DD vs 3C, and 2C-ADP vs 2C-DD.
Main Results:
- No significant mean differences in body composition were found between the methods.
- Significant constant and proportional biases were identified between 2C-DD vs 3C and 2C-ADP vs 2C-DD.
- Associations between mean differences and infants' percent total body water (%TBW) were significant.
Conclusions:
- While mean differences were not significant, biases exist, emphasizing careful method selection.
- Methodological uniformity is vital for longitudinal infant growth studies.
- Pre-analytical variables, particularly hydration status, require careful consideration and control.
Background/Objectives:
An appreciation of infant body composition is helpful to understand the 'quality' of growth in early life. Air displacement plethysmography (ADP) using PEA POD and the deuterium dilution (DD) technique are commonly used body composition approaches in infants. We evaluated the comparability of body composition assessed using both techniques with two-compartment (2C) and three-compartment (3C) models in 6-month-old infants.
Subjects/Methods:
Infant fat mass (FM) and percent fat mass (%FM) obtained from a 2C model using PEA POD (2C-PP) and a 2C model using the deuterium dilution technique (2C-DD) were compared to those derived from a 3C model, and to each other, using Bland-Altman analysis and Deming regression.
Results:
Measurements were available from 68 infants (93% Caucasian, 53% male). The mean biases were not significant between any of the method comparisons. However, significant constant and proportional biases were identified in 2C-DD vs 3C and 2C-PP vs 2C-DD, but not in the 2C-PP vs 3C comparison. Furthermore, we observed significant associations between the mean differences and infants' percent total body water (%TBW).
Conclusions:
While no significant between-method mean differences were found in body composition estimates, some comparisons revealed significant constant and proportional biases and notable associations between the mean differences and %TBW were observed. Our results emphasise the importance of method choice, ensuring methodological uniformity in long-term studies, and carefully considering and regulating multiple pre-analytical variables, such as the hydration status of the participants.
