Body Fat in Children Measured by DXA, Air-Displacement Plethysmography, TBW and Multicomponent Models: A Systematic Review

• Published in: Maternal and child health journal Vol. 19; no. 7; pp. 1567 - 1573
• Main Authors: Zanini, Roberta de Vargas, Santos, Iná S., Chrestani, Maria Aurora D., Gigante, Denise Petrucci
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.07.2015; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Absorptiometry, Photon - methods; Adipose Tissue; Age groups; Analysis; Body composition; Body Composition - physiology; Body fat; Chemical elements; Child; Child, Preschool; Female; Gynecology; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Keywords; Literature reviews; Male; Maternal and Child Health; Medical Subject Headings-MeSH; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Meta-analysis; Methods; Pediatrics; Plethysmography; Plethysmography - methods; Population Economics; Public Health; Reading; Sociology; Systematic review; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US; Sweden; Systematic review; Fat mass; Body composition; Childhood
• ISSN: 1092-7875; 1573-6628; 1573-6628
• DOI: 10.1007/s10995-015-1666-5

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.