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Body Composition At Birth And Its Relationship With Neonatal Anthropometric Ratios: The Newborn Body Composition Study Of The Intergrowth-21st Project, José Villar, Fabien A. Puglia, Tanis R. Fenton, Leila Cheikh Ismail, Eleonora Staines-Urias, Francesca Giuliani, Eric O. Ohuma, Cesar G. Victora, Peter Sullivan, Fernando C. Barros, Ann Lambert, Aris T. Papageorghiou, R. Ochieng, Yasmin A. Jaffer, Douglas G. Altman, Alison J. Noble, Michael G. Gravett, Manorama Purwar, Ruyan Pang, Ricardo Uauy, Stephen H. Kennedy, Zulfiqar A. Bhutta

Paediatrics and Child Health, East Africa

Background: We aimed to describe newborn body composition and identify which anthropometric ratio (weight/length; BMI; or ponderal index, PI) best predicts fat mass (FM) and fat-free mass (FFM).

Methods: Air-displacement plethysmography (PEA POD) was used to estimate FM, FFM, and body fat percentage (BF%). Associations between FFM, FM, and BF% and weight/length, BMI, and PI were evaluated in 1,019 newborns using multivariate regression analysis. Charts for FM, FFM, and BF% were generated using a prescriptive subsample (n = 247). Standards for the best-predicting anthropometric ratio were calculated utilizing the same population used for the INTERGROWTH-21st Newborn Size Standards (n = …