Association of leg length with overweight and obesity in children aged 5–15 years: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Altered body dimensions appear to be linked to measures of overweight and obesity in children but longitudinal studies are needed to confirm this suggestion.

Children’s body fatness and prevalence of obesity in relation to height for age

“…One earlier assumption had been that this height for ageoverweight/obese relationship was, in part, a characteristic of using BMI as the proxy measure for overweight/obesity, with BMI tending to increase with increasing height and that BMI preferentially classified taller children as overweight or obese. However, this height-BMI-adiposity phenomenon has been examined in more detail and across different age groups (Akaboshi et al, 2008;Bosy-Westphal et al, 2009;Buchan et al, 2007;Freedman et al, 2004a;Pliakas & McCarthy, 2010;Stovitz et al, 2010) and has recently been confirmed in a sample of 280 children aged 7-12 years, in whom body composition was measured using DXA-a laboratory-based reference technique which quantifies tissue masses (Metcalf et al, 2011). The current study, using a simpler field-based method of body composition assessment (BIA), conducted in the community on a larger sample of children and covering a wider age range, confirms the findings of the laboratorybased study that children who are taller for their age also tend to have higher body fat levels for their age.…”

“…However, when findings are interpreted for boys and girls combined, this could suggest that a greater abdominal accumulation of body fat and greater gains in height are causally linked. A recent study reported that children with a high BMI or WC for their age also had a lower leg length to height ratio compared with children with a lower BMI or WC for age (Pliakas & McCarthy, 2010). This indicated that altered body proportions (trunk and legs) are linked to measures of overweight and obesity in children, with a relatively greater trunk length (which is a corollary of a lower leg length to height ratio) being associated with a greater accumulation of abdominal fat (for age).…”

“…In trying to better understand causation and early risk factors, there is mounting evidence to suggest that some cases of overweight and obesity in childhood could reflect, in part, an altered pattern or rate of growth. Overweight and obese children (identified by their body mass index (BMI) standard deviation score (SDS)) tend to be taller for their age compared with non-overweight children (Bosy Westphal et al, 2009;Pliakas & McCarthy, 2010). Thus, being tall for age could be considered an early predictor for overweight and obesity.…”

Body proportionality and adiposity are not related in 6‐ to 8‐year‐old Yucatec Maya children

“…Our results do not support the hypotheses that lower RLL is associated with higher values of body adiposity. Some evidence indicates that children with lower RLL tend to have more BMI (Pliakas & McCarthy, ; Zhang et al, ); however, BMI has serious limitations as a proxy for fat (Bogin & Varela‐Silva, ) because it is just an indicator of weight‐for‐height and individuals with the same weight could have different amounts of fat mass or fat free mass. As well, the variation in body proportionality results in different values in the prevalence of overweight using BMI classification, as Norgan () clearly demonstrated in his study of Australian aborigines.…”

“…Suffering undernourishment in early life stages can induce metabolic adjustments that may lead to unhealthy outcomes in body composition, and this, in turn, increases the risk of future metabolic diseases (Wells, ). Some studies conducted in different countries, such as the United States (Frisancho, ), United Kingdom (Pliakas & McCarthy, ), and China (Zhang, Chu, & Zhao, ), have reported that children with generally lower RLL tend to accumulate more total adiposity or adiposity at different regions of the body compared with children with higher RLL. However, the last two of these studies used body mass index (BMI) to characterize body adiposity and the risk of overweight.…”