[Determination of the corpulence index in newborn infants]

A biometric study of the somatic characteristics weight and stature carried out in 1994 on 5,751 newborn children of both sexes showed the existence of an index of corpulence of the P/T2.75 type which presents the particularity of being correlated to weight and without any link with stature, unlike Quetelet's index (P/T2) and P/T3 Roehrer's index. At fixed stature, the coefficients of the average weight variation are lower than in adults. Moreover, there is no significant difference between the average weight in boys and in girls, their fluctuations being comparable. The expression P/T2.75 allows us to compare the corpulence of newborns of both sexes having distinct weight and stature.