Upper-arm muscle area (UMA), upper-arm fat area (UFA), arm-fat index (AFI), upper-arm fat estimate (UFE) and upper-arm muscle estimate (UME) was introduced for the assessment of body-composition. ...This cross-sectional study assessed age-sex specific upper-arm composition and nutritional status among children and adolescents.
The present cross-sectional study was conducted among 1545 (770 boys; 775 girls) Sonowal Kacharis of Dibrugarh District, Assam, Northeast-India, using multi-stage stratified random sampling method. The anthropometric measurements of height, weight, triceps and mid-upper-arm circumference were recorded. The upper-arm composition was assessed using standard equations. Nutritional status was assessed using standard classification of upper-arm muscle-area by height (UAMAH) and thinness (low BMI-for-age).
Age and sex-specific muscularity were found significantly greater among boys than girls (p<0.01), while adiposity was significantly greater among girls (p<0.01), particularly when they approached to puberty. The overall prevalence of low and below-average UAMAH was found to be 16.38% and 22.65% respectively. The overall prevalence of thinness was 23.69% (26.36% boys, 21.03% girls) (p>0.05).
Body-composition and nutritional status of these children and adolescents were found markedly unsatisfactory using upper-arm composition, UAMAH and thinness. The combination of upper-arm composition and conventional anthropometric measures appear to be useful for body-composition and nutritional status assessment.
Upper arm anthropometry has been used in the nutritional assessment of small infants, but it has not yet been validated as a predictor of regional body composition in this population.
Validation of ...measured and derived upper arm anthropometry as a predictor of arm fat and fat-free compartments in preterm infants.
Upper arm anthropometry, including the upper arm cross-sectional areas, was compared individually or in combination with other anthropometric measurements, with the cross-sectional arm areas measured by magnetic resonance imaging, in a cohort of consecutive preterm appropriate-for-gestational-age neonates, just before discharge.
Thirty infants born with (mean +/- SD) a gestational age of 30.7 +/- 1.9 weeks and birth weight of 1,380 +/- 325 g, were assessed at 35.4 +/- 1.1 weeks of corrected gestational age, weighing 1,785 +/- 93 g. None of the anthropometric measurements are reliable predictors (r(2) < 0.56) of the measurements obtained by magnetic resonance imaging, individually or in combination with other anthropometric measurements.
Both measured anthropometry and derived upper arm anthropometry are inaccurate predictors of regional body composition in preterm appropriate-for-gestational-age infants.