• Paul B Higgins, Analiza M Silva, Luis B Sardinha, Holly R Hull, Michael I Goran, Barbara A Gower, and David A Fields.
• Department of Nutrition Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL, USA. higginsp@uab.edu
• Bmc Pediatr. 2006 Jun 5; 6: 18.

BackgroundTo determine the validity of the recently developed child-specific thoracic gas volume (TGV) prediction equations for use in air-displacement plethysmography (ADP) in diverse pediatric populations.MethodsThree distinct populations were studied: European American and African American children living in Birmingham, Alabama and European children living in Lisbon, Portugal. Each child completed a standard ADP testing protocol, including a measured TGV according to the manufactures software criteria. Measured TGV was compared to the predicted TGV from current adult-based ADP proprietary equations and to the recently developed child-specific TGV equations of Fields et al. Similarly, percent body fat, derived using the TGV prediction equations, was compared to percent body fat derived using measured TGV.ResultsPredicted TGV from adult-based equations was significantly different from measured TGV in girls from each of the three ethnic groups (P < 0.05), however child-specific TGV estimates did not significantly differ from measured TGV in any of the ethnic or gender groups. Percent body fat estimates using adult-derived and child-specific TGV estimates did not differ significantly from percent body fat measures using measured TGV in any of the groups.ConclusionThe child-specific TGV equations developed by Fields et al. provided a modest improvement over the adult-based TGV equations in an ethnically diverse group of children.

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