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- Title
Application of Body Mass Index According to Height-Age in Short and Tall Children.
- Authors
Bonthuis, Marjolein; Jager, Kitty J.; Abu-Hanna, Ameen; Verrina, Enrico; Schaefer, Franz; van Stralen, Karlijn J.
- Abstract
Background:In children with either delayed or accelerated growth, expressing the body mass index (BMI) to chronological age might lead to invalid body composition estimates. Reference to height-age has been suggested for such populations; however its validity has not been demonstrated. Methods:Anthropometric data of healthy children were obtained from the German KiGGS survey. We selected three samples with different height distributions representing short stature (mean height SDS: -1.6), normal stature (height SDS: 0), and tall stature (height SDS: +1.6), and compared BMI-for-age and BMI-for-height-age between these samples across the paediatric age range. Differences between samples were tested using Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance and permutation tests. Results:At a given age, BMI was distributed towards lower values in short, and towards higher values in tall subjects as compared to a population with average height distribution. Expressing BMI to height-age eliminated these differences in boys with a short stature from 4 years to 14 years of age, in tall boys from 4 to 16 years, in short girls aged 2-10 years or tall girls aged 2-17 years. Conclusion:From late infancy to adolescent age, BMI distribution co-varies with height distribution and referencing to height-age appears appropriate within this age period. However, caution is needed when data about pubertal status are absent.
- Subjects
BODY mass index; AGE; ANTHROPOMETRY; HUMAN body composition; TALL stature; SHORT stature; CHILDREN
- Publication
PLoS ONE, 2013, Vol 8, Issue 8, p1
- ISSN
1932-6203
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0072068