Publications
Body composition reference charts for infants from birth to 24 months: Multicenter Infant Body Composition Reference Study.
Murphy-Alford, Alexia J.; Johnson, William; Nyati, Lukhanyo H.; Santos, Ina S.; Hills, Andrew P.; Ariff, Shabina; Wickramasinghe, V. Pujitha; Kuriyan, Rebecca; Lucas, M. Nishani; Costa, Caroline S.; Slater, Christine; Ahmad, Tanvir; Byrne, Nuala M.; Divya, Priscilla J.; Kurpad, Anura V.; Cheikh Ismail, Leila I.; Loechl, Cornelia U.; Norris, Shane A. BACKGROUND: Body composition assessment in the first 2 y of life provides important insights into child nutrition and health. The application and interpretation of body composition data in infants and young children have been challenged by a lack of global reference data. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to develop body composition reference charts of infants aged 0-6 mo based on air displacement plethysmography (ADP) and those aged 3-24 mo based on total body water (TBW) by deuterium dilution (DD). METHODS: Body composition was assessed by ADP in infants aged 0-6 mo from Australia, India, and South Africa. TBW using DD was assessed for infants aged 3-24 mo from Brazil, Pakistan, South Africa, and Sri Lanka. Reference charts and centiles were constructed for body composition using the lambda-mu-sigma method. RESULTS: Sex-specific reference charts were produced for FM index (FMI), FFM index (FFMI), and percent FM (%FM) for infants aged 0-6 mo (n = 470 infants; 1899 observations) and 3-24 mo (n = 1026 infants; 3690 observations). When compared with other available references, there were observable differences but similar patterns in the trajectories of FMI, FFMI, and %FM. CONCLUSIONS: These reference charts will strengthen the interpretation and understanding of body composition in infants across the first 24 mo of life.
