Assessing Body Composition in Healthy Newborn Infants: Reliability of Dual-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry

Godang, Kristin; Qvigstad, Elisabeth; Voldner, Nanna; Isaksen, Gunhild A.; Frøslie, Kathrine F.; Nøtthellen, Jacob; Henriksen, Tore; Bollerslev, Jens

doi:10.1016/j.jocd.2010.01.121

« Previous Next »Journal of Clinical Densitometry
Volume 13, Issue 2 , Pages 151-160, April 2010

Assessing Body Composition in Healthy Newborn Infants: Reliability of Dual-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry

Kristin Godang
- Department of Endocrinology, Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway
- Address correspondence to: Kristin Godang, BSc.E., Section of Endocrinology, Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, N-0027 Oslo, Norway.
Elisabeth Qvigstad
- Department of Endocrinology, Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway
Nanna Voldner
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway
Gunhild A. Isaksen
- Department of Endocrinology, Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway
Kathrine F. Frøslie
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway
- National Resource Centre for Women's Health, Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway
- Department of Biostatistics, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Jacob Nøtthellen
- Department of Medical Physics, Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway
Tore Henriksen
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway
Jens Bollerslev
- Department of Endocrinology, Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway

Received 17 September 2009; received in revised form 18 January 2010; accepted 18 January 2010. published online 09 April 2010.

Abstract

Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is used to measure body composition in newborns; however, data on DXA accuracy are limited. We investigated the reliability of body composition measurements by DXA. The present study included 207 normal-term newborn babies, recruited from a larger study on the determinants of birth weight in healthy pregnancies (STORK) between 2005 and 2008. Reliability analysis of total fat mass (FM_DxA), fat-free mass, lean mass (LM_DxA), bone mineral content (BMC), and bone mineral density (BMD) were based on 2 DXA scans of 50 neonates. We also performed a comparison analysis for DXA (FM_DxA) measurements and caliper (CLP) or circumference (CF) measurements of trunk and extremities (performed on all neonates, n=207). Reliability: All intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were satisfactory to excellent for total body and the extremity-compartment FM_DxA, LM_DxA, BMD, and BMC; ICC ranged from 0.86 to 0.96 but with a lower ICC for trunk FM_DxA. For comparison analysis, the Pearson correlation coefficients for CLP vs DXA and CF vs DXA ranged from 0.48 to 0.79 and 0.41 to 0.77, respectively. Quadriceps CLP and CF measurements correlated best with the most reliable DXA results, whereas more modest correlations were found for the trunk region. DXA measurements of body composition demonstrated good reliability and can be used as a reference method in neonates. CLP and CF measurements are appropriate for larger cohorts or when DXA is unavailable, and they provide fair rough estimations of fat mass.