Evaluation of anthropometric equations developed to estimate neonates’ body composition: a systematic review

Abstract

This article aims to evaluate the anthropometric equations developed by selected studies in order to estimate the body composition of neonates. The systematic review consisted in the research of published articles in the following databases: PubMed, Brazilian Virtual Health Library, Embase and ScienceDirect by utilizing the following descriptors: “fat mass, fat free mass, anthropometry, air displacement plethysmography, validation, neonate”. For doing so, the PRISMA protocol has been utilized. The bibliographical research resulted in 181 articles. However, only eight were selected for the present review because repetition in different databases and having been performed in adults, during pregnancy, in athletes, in preterm and children. There was discrepancy in terms of study method, mainly over the variables of the anthropometric equations, age and ethnicity of the neonates. All studies used the plethysmography method as a reference apart from one study. Only four studies had their equations validated. The studies that developed anthropometric models for estimating the body composition of neonates are scarce, and the use of these equations needs to be conducted carefully in order to avoid errors in nutritional diagnosis.

Equations based on anthropometric measurements for adipose tissue, body fat, or body density prediction in children and adolescents: a scoping review

“…Type I models (descriptive methods) are often developed and validated using regression equations and a reference method. Over the decades, many anthropometric studies have been conducted to develop equations for predicting body fat (BF) [14,15]. Equations are specific to the characteristics of the group from which they were derived, such as athletes from different sports [16] and people with diseases [17] or disabilities [18], but they can be applied to the general population if they are adjusted to match its characteristics, such as sexual maturation, ethnicity, and sex, which are factors associated with changes in body composition [19][20][21][22][23][24][25].…”