Body composition analysis by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in young preschool children

Lifshitz, Fima; Hecht, Pedro; Bermúdez, E F; Gamba, Cecilia; Reinoso, Josefina Martinez; Casavalle, Patricia; Friedman, Sílvia; Rodríguez, Pablo Esteban

doi:10.1038/ejcn.2016.38

Cited by 18 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…23,24 Studies showed that boys have higher levels of cardiorespiratory fitness because they are more physically active 23 and have lower levels of fat mass. [24][25][26] In the same way, based on the previous literature, fat-free mass is higher in boys, 27 which allows them to perform better in muscular strength tests. 24 In regard to speed-agility, other authors showed that the performance seems to be influenced by genetics (neuromuscular components, muscle fibre quality, degree of gene transfer, etc.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 73%

Physical fitness reference standards for preschool children: The PREFIT project

Cadenas‐Sanchez

Intemann

Labayen

et al. 2019

Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport

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on behalf of the PREFIT project group 2 a PROFITH "PROmoting FITness and Health through physical activity" a b s t r a c t Objectives: Reference values are necessary for classifying children, for health screening, and for early prevention as many non-communicable diseases aggravate during growth and development. While physical fitness reference standards are available in children aged 6 and older, such information is lacking in preschool children. Therefore, the purposes of this study were (1) to provide sex-and age-specific physical fitness reference standards for Spanish preschool children; and (2) to study sex differences across this age period and to characterise fitness performance throughout the preschool period. Design: Cross-sectional. Methods: A total of 3179 preschool children (1678 boys) aged 2.8-6.4 years old from Spain were included in the present study. Physical fitness was measured using the PREFIT battery. Results: Age-and sex-specific percentiles for the physical fitness components are provided. Boys performed better than girls in the cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength, and speed-agility tests over the whole preschool period studied and for the different percentiles. In contrast, girls performed slightly better than boys in the balance test. Older children had better performance in all fitness tests than their younger counterparts. Conclusions: Our study provides age-and sex-specific physical fitness reference standards in preschool children allowing interpretation of fitness assessment. Sexual dimorphism in fitness tests exists already at preschool age, and these differences become larger with age. These findings will help health, sport, and school professionals to identify preschool children with a high/very low fitness level, to examine changes in fitness over time, and to analyse those changes obtained due to intervention effects.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 73%

Physical fitness reference standards for preschool children: The PREFIT project

Cadenas‐Sanchez

Intemann

Labayen

et al. 2019

Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport

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“…Moreover, physical activity attendance and type of sport practised could be different in girls and boys due to motivation, social interest or peer influence, resulting in girls being generally less active than boys [48]. Regarding biological factors, although we did not collect data on body composition to confirm these assumptions, previous studies showed that girls have a significantly greater percentage of fat mass and less fat free mass than boys [49] and that, during growth, the fat free mass of males increases at a faster rate than that of females, especially during puberty [50]. Consequently, these environmental and biological differences might have led to better physical fitness and muscular strength performances in boys than in girls, especially at older ages.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 93%

Relationship between body mass index and physical fitness in Italian prepubertal schoolchildren

et al. 2020

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The objective of this study was to investigate the association between physical fitness and body mass index categories (obesity, OB; overweight, OW; normal-weight, NW; and underweight, UW) in prepubertal children. Anthropometric and physical fitness characteristics were collected from a convenience sample of 30472 Italian schoolchildren (6-11 years old). Six field-based tests were used: Lé ger, agility shuttle, long jump, frontal throw of the basketball, Sit & Reach and standing balance. Significant differences were found in the anthropometric characteristics, physical fitness and weight status prevalence between girls and boys (p<0.05) and, except for flexibility, by age class (p<0.05). Obese children performed worse than their NW counterparts in aerobic capacity (p<0.001), agility (p<0.001), muscular power of the lower limb (p<0.001) and balance (p<0.001). Conversely, children with obesity showed greater upper limb power than NW children (p<0.001). The discrepancy in physical fitness between OB and NW children increased in older girls (flexibility, p = 0.002; muscular power of the lower and upper limb, p = 0.002 and p = 0.005) and boys (aerobic capacity, p = 0.009; agility, p = 0.006; standing balance, p = 0.019; muscular power of the lower and upper limb, p<0.001 and p = 0.011) compared to their younger counterparts. On the other hand, UW children performed worse than NW children mainly in terms of muscular power of the arms (p<0.001). Additionally, there was an increasing disparity in the frontal throw test scores of UW and NW girls (p = 0.003) and boys (p = 0.011) in older children compared to younger children. In conclusion, the effect of body mass index on children's physical fitness intensifies with age. OB and OW negatively affect aerobic capacity, agility, lower limb power and balance but positively affect upper limb power. UW negatively affects upper limb power. This study underscores the importance of preventing childhood OW, OB, and UW in early life to promote children's health and proper fitness development.

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“…Profound changes in body composition and proportion occur during growth and pubertal development ( 2 ) in a sex-dependent fashion due to the influence of hormones, particularly growth hormone and sex steroids ( 3 ). In this evolving scenario, additional changes in body development and proportions are observed when obesity develops affecting body fat content and distribution ( 4 ), with postulated ethnic differences because of different genetic and epigenetic backgrounds ( 5 ). Children from different ethnic groups have significant differences in body fat and lean mass content for a given BMI, particularly when comparing Latino and European adolescents, which leads to an ethnic-associated variability in the metabolic profile related to obesity ( 5 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethnicity Strongly Influences Body Fat Distribution Determining Serum Adipokine Profile and Metabolic Derangement in Childhood Obesity

et al. 2020

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Background: Body fat content and distribution in childhood is influenced by sex and puberty, but interethnic differences in the percentage and distribution of body fat also exist. The abdominal visceral/subcutaneous fat ratio has been the main feature of body fat distribution found to associate with the serum adipokine profile and metabolic derangement in adulthood obesity. This has also been assumed for childhood obesity despite the known singularities of this disease in the pediatric age in comparison to adults. Objective: We aimed to investigate the effect of ethnicity, together with sex and pubertal status, on body fat content and distribution, serum adipokine profile, metabolic impairment and liver steatosis in children and adolescents with obesity. Patients and Methods: One hundred and fifty children with obesity (50% Caucasians/50% Latinos; 50% males/50% females) were studied. Body fat content and distribution were studied by whole body DXA-scan and abdominal magnetic resonance, and their relationships with liver steatosis (as determined by ultrasonography), glycemia, insulinemia, lipid metabolism, uric acid, total and HMW-adiponectin, leptin, leptin-receptor, and sex steroid levels were explored. Results: Latino patients had more severe truncal obesity (higher trunk/lower limb fat ratio, odds ratio 10.00; p < 0.05) and higher prevalence of liver steatosis than Caucasians regardless of sex or pubertal status, but there were no difference in the visceral/subcutaneous abdominal fat ratio, except for pubertal females. A higher trunk/lower limb fat ratio, but not the visceral/subcutaneous abdominal fat ratio, was associated with adipokine profile impairment (higher free leptin index and lower adiponectin levels), insulin resistance and dyslipidemia, and was further enhanced when liver steatosis was present ( p < 0.05). A higher abdominal visceral/subcutaneous fat ratio was observed in prepubertal children ( p < 0.01), except for Latino females, whereas predominant subcutaneous fat deposition was observed in adolescents. Conclusion: Ethnicity is one of the main determinants of increased trunk body fat accumulation in Latino children with obesity, which is best estimated by the trunk/lower limb fat ratio and related to the development of metabolic derangement and liver steatosis.

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Body composition analysis by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in young preschool children

Cited by 18 publications

References 47 publications

Physical fitness reference standards for preschool children: The PREFIT project

Physical fitness reference standards for preschool children: The PREFIT project

Relationship between body mass index and physical fitness in Italian prepubertal schoolchildren

Ethnicity Strongly Influences Body Fat Distribution Determining Serum Adipokine Profile and Metabolic Derangement in Childhood Obesity

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