Assessment of Body Composition, Fat Mass, Fat-Free Mass and Percent of Body Fat among Rural School-Going Children of Northeastern India

Abstract

Recently recognized important indicators of body composition is fat mass (FM) and fat-free mass (FFM) and percent body fat (PBF). The aim of this cross-sectional study is to determine body composition of the pre-adolescent children by using FM, FFM, and PBF. This study was performed using data from 584 children (281 boys and 303 girls) aged 6-10 years of Ahom children of upper Assam, India. Four anthropometric measurements i.e. height, weight, skinfold at triceps (TSF) and sub-scapular (SSF) are taken and the calculated measurements are FM, FFM, FMI, FFMI, PBF, PBF for age (PBFZ), body mass index(BMI). The percentile curves of body composition indices were constructed by the LMS method. Age-specific mean values of FM ranged from 2.12-4.00 kg (boys) and 2.16-4.40 kg (girls) and the age-specific mean values of FFM ranged from 14.45-23.93 kg (boys) and 14.01-23.03 kg (girls). The highest PBF value is observed in 6 years of age for both groups of the children while the lowest value is observed in 10 years and 9 years of age for boys and girls respectively. Sex-specific mean differences between sexes were statistically significant in SSF, PBF, FM, and FMI except in weight, height, TSF, FFM, FFMI and BMI (p<0.05).  For future investigations in clinical and epidemiological studies, these results are very much important. These results can identify the risk of lower or higher adiposity and body composition using PBF, FM, and FFM.