The allometric scaling of body mass and height in children and adolescents in five countries

摘要

Abstract Objective The purpose a methodology that excludes values outside of the expected spectrum for age (VOESA) of height and body mass in the definition of power ( p ) to construct an international allometric body mass index (AI) for children and adolescents. Methods Datasets of national surveys including individuals (aged 0–19 years) from five countries (Brazil, South Korea, Mexico, England, and the USA) were selected. The p was defined for each country, age range, and sex after exclusion of VOESA for height and weight by log–log linear regression, where β represented p . The p was also defined for a pool of five countries, international p ( ip ) after exclusion of VOESA using a spline modeling technique (5 knots). The AI was calculated and Pearson's correlation coefficient ( r ) was calculated to investigate the correlation between AI and height. Results Exclusion of VOESA decreased the difference of p among countries. Exponent p showed values close to 2 in the first years of life, increased to 3–3.5 between 7 and 11 years for girls and 8 to 12 years for boys, and decreased to close to 2 near the end of growth (16 years for girls and 19 years for boys). The use of ip for all countries decreased r values to near zero while BMI had values near 0.4. Conclusions Exclusion of VOESA contributes to a decreased effect of epidemiological context among countries when calculating the AI. AI calculated using ip is independent of height in all countries and reflects physiological growth changes for children and adolescents.