Beyond Body Mass Index - Body Composition Assessment by Bioimpedance in Routine Endocrine Practice
2Tel Aviv University, Sackler School of Medicine
3Pediatrics Department, Dana-Dwek Children's Hospital, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center
Objective: To explore the body composition of pediatric patients referred for endocrine evaluation.
Methods: This real-life observational study conducted between 1/2018 and 1/2020 included 10,001 clinic visits of 3500 children and adolescents; first visits of 5-18-year-old patients were included. Anthropometric data, blood pressure levels, pubertal status, and bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA, Tanita MC-780 MA) were extracted from medical files. Excluded from the analysis were patients participating in other studies.
Results: In total, 1001 patients (48% boys, mean age 11.3±3.4, 33.5% pre-pubertal) were included. Their mean anthropometric z-scores were normal and similar for boys and girls. The sex differences in body composition were that boys had lower fat percentage (FATP), lower truncal fat percentage (TFATP), higher appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASMM), and a higher muscle-to-fat ratio (MFR) than girls (P