ANTHROPOMETRY AND BODY-COMPOSITION IN CHILDREN

Changes in body fat, fat-free mass and extracellular water occur in ma ny disorders, and during normal growth in children. Thus, body composi tion is an increasingly important measurement in paediatric clinical p ractice, and is used for diagnostic purposes, for decisions for treatm ent and for monitoring improvement. A number of different methods exis t for determining body composition in children; however, their use is complicated by the absence of a gold standard and the lack of validity data in children both with and without growth disorders. In this repo rt, validity and usefulness are compared among anthropometric methods and weighted against other techniques used in children. Recent recomme ndations of a number of expert committees are discussed.